Archive for 2009
Friday, October 2nd, 2009
Reframe the Issue
As the debate continues around education reform and summer learning loss, ACA is advocating that we re-frame the issue. What do children and youth need in order to learn? What conditions and experiences cause a young person to be ready to learn? The solution must be child-centric. Teaching children to pass standardized tests doesn’t necessarily [...]
4 Comments » - Posted in General by Peg Smith
Friday, September 18th, 2009
Education Reform
I want to know what you are thinking about when you read the literature about education reform? What are the implications for camp? What is our position/s? How do children learn? How do children and youth learn mastery and competence? What did it look like? What does it look like? What might it look like? [...]
3 Comments » - Posted in General by Peg Smith
Wednesday, August 12th, 2009
Two Systems
I am carefully watching and monitoring all of the discussions around school ‘transformation’. I agree, year round learning is imperative. However, I do not agree with the concept of traditional year round school. It seems odd to me that at a time when we are candidly discussing the woes of our current, traditional school system [...]
1 Comment » - Posted in General by Peg Smith
Thursday, July 16th, 2009
Value
Why would more parents want to send their children to camp? Why would more youth serving professionals want to join ACA? I believe there are many positive, legtimate responses to those questions. Let me share one that, for me, has surfaced in the past couple of weeks. We are a professional community that contributes to [...]
2 Comments » - Posted in General by Peg Smith
Tuesday, July 7th, 2009
Mistakes can be blessings
I was having an email exchange with an ACA member this week-end about learning and education. It was noted that it was important to find people who had, in fact, made mistakes and had learned from those mistakes because they would already be 3 steps ahead of the beginner. Not a failure but an advantage. We [...]
1 Comment » - Posted in General by Peg Smith
Thursday, July 2nd, 2009
Love Letter To Camp
A Love Letter to Camp,
I have a poster on my wall at work that says, “Vision is the art of seeing things invisible.” Webster indicates that a dream can be defined as a “fond hope”. Many of us spend our life reaching for a vision with the dream it will be realized. Maybe that is [...]
1 Comment » - Posted in General by Peg Smith
Wednesday, July 1st, 2009
Discontent but not destitute
I often feel a level of discontent, even on a good day. Then, I question, but am I destitute? Is there a difference? Yes. We can feel discontented about any of the brutal facts or realities of our past and/or what we face today and still not be destitute. We can feel a level of discontent while, at the [...]
2 Comments » - Posted in General by Peg Smith
Wednesday, June 24th, 2009
Being a part of something larger
I have spent several days responding to the H1N1 issue. It occurs to me that having a collective, professional voice is an asset. Our ability to have partners such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Association of Camp Nurses is an asset. The ability to tell parents that if they have chosen [...]
3 Comments » - Posted in General by Peg Smith
Thursday, June 11th, 2009
Wishing Doesn’t Make It So
When I was a kid, like most kids, I spent a great deal of time wishing for things. Wish I had new shoes. Wish I had a new bike. Wish I was as pretty, popular, or smart as the person I was jealous of on that particular day. My mom used to respond, “Wishing won’t [...]
2 Comments » - Posted in General by Peg Smith
Tuesday, June 9th, 2009
How Many
At the end of the day, it is all about more and better. We use so many words that attempt to define our structure, processes, bureacracies, services, members, etc. And, it is true, I love words. Words are great building blocks for learning. But when you stack blocks far too high they often topple over. [...]
