Darius Goes West

I saw "Darius Goes West" recently. What a film! Presented and edited very well (particularly by a first time director). And Darius is such a charismatic young man, so full of life, very honest and fun. It's amazing what adversity does to some people.

My take on UDL class (T-560)

I've really found this class pretty exciting. I knew nothing about UDL before this class and now I think it's a great way to present curriculum. I hope it really catches on. So many more people and kids would be able to learn much better if material catered to their individual needs. It's great that google and CAST are teaming up to do some UDL work. Hopefully it will catch on. Google's projects are usually pretty high profile, so hopefully it will.

UDL & CSB

One thing I think would be really helpful to have is to bring together UDL with Cognitive Skill Building (CSB). No one has really heard of this. There are several practitioners over at MGH. It helps people with learning disabilities/differences develop - as the name implies - better skills for processing info. in general and specifically, depending on the person, reading/writing/listening skills. I've done it for several years and found it invaluable. In fact, I can be pretty sure that I never would have gotten in to the Harvard Ed school had I not taken on the CSB. My writing used to be semi-incoherant and now it's definitely readable. I've been told by a few people that I've made huge strides in my writing ability. (One person - who is not given to grandiose statements - said that I've made a "quantum leap." Anyway, I really think that each could benefit from the other. Esp. I think UDL. Although people have been working on UDL for years, CSB, in my opinion is a more developed curriculum. (I'm also biased, admittedly, because I've found CSB invaluable over the last few years.

A few words...

I'm having some trouble sleeping so thought I would write on this blog. I haven't actually said what this blog is for. This blog is for a class I'm taking called "Universal Design for Learning: Meeting the Challenge of Individual Differences." It hasn't been entirely clear to me what the blog is for, but after looking at what some other people in my class have written in their blogs, I have a better idea of how I can contribute to this online forum. Maybe, though, now that I think about what I want to say, I'll say it when I'm not so sleepy.

A few words about myself...

I enjoy reading People Magazine or one of its cheaper knockoffs because I believe it's important to keep up with current events. I also enjoy reading the New Yorker and sending in captions for the New Yorker Caption Contest. I enjoy playing my cello (though I haven't in a while), playing tennis, soccer and especially skiing, watching bad Hollywood movies or Law & Order. I appreciate being able to spend time with my friends and family.

Like most every other twenty-something person living in Cambridge, MA. (where I currently live) I enjoy a bunch of trendy mainstream music and an eclectic blend of alternative music which includes bands you've never heard of and music from small indigenous tribes in Africa and/or South America and/or the Middle East.

Juggling

My dear sister sent me this video of a guy juggling. I used to enjoy juggling when I was younger. Though, never really got the juggling pins thing down.

The truth about staring into abysses

This is a blog. Just yesterday, and all the previous years of my life, I was not part of the blogosphere. Now I am. Today I will puzzle over the words of a great philosopher. Be forewarned. After reading the rest of this entry, you will likely feel that you have lost a minute or two of your life. (I know that feeling myself - although it occurred last year after watching the movie version of Miami Vice. I am still lamenting those two hours that I will never get back.)

Friedriche Nietzsche once said: "If you stare long enough into the Abyss, the Abyss stares also into you." I tried this over the weekend. How did I do this? As far as I know, there are no abysses around the Boston area. (The closest, to my knowledge, is probably the Labrador Plain.) I do know, however, of a few deep wells in New Hampshire where you can't see to the bottom. So, I went up there and spent a long time staring, but alas, I did not sense that the abyss was staring back at me, let alone "into" me. After a few hours I was cold and hungry so I went home to get something to eat.

I don't know what abyss Nietzsche was staring into. Perhaps it was the same one as in the film "The Abyss" (1989) with all those funny looking translucent blue aliens wafting about in the black ocean. Or, truth seeker that he was, he ignored his pangs of hunger, became delirious and started seeing things. Either way, in my experience, if you stare long enough into the abyss, you will get hungry and eventually will go inside to eat some soup or a bologna sandwich.