Jack’s Winning Words 10/14/20

“Personally, I’m always ready to learn, although I do not like being taught.”  (Churchill)  One of my favorite NPR programs is Ask Dr Science, who states “I’m not a real doctor, but I have a Master’s Degree in Science”.  In a humorous way, I’ve learned about kidney stones, celiac disease and vaccines.  Usually, we enjoy learning when the teaching is enjoyable.  Did you ever have a “fun” teacher?  ;-)  Jack

FROM GOOD DEBT JON:  Yes, in my MBA program (2008) Niccole Chandler Hyatt Ph.D. she was finishing her Ph.D. and now is encouraging me still. Good people are good people across the spectrum of life.  She moved to Savannah but we still zoom. She's sort of a unofficial mentor for me in my Ph.D studies now. We catch up by Zoom video.   I had several fantastic grade school teachers along the way too.===JACK:  Thanks for mentors who challenge us to keep on learning.  "The pandemic" has introduced me to Zoom (speakers for our Optimist Club - church services - Saturday chat each week with two close friends - family gathering from multiple states.  While Google isn't the best and most accurate, it helps satisfy my curiosity.  

FROM LBP:  I’ve had engaging teachers over the years. Now I try to be one of them. My latest thought experiment is how to bring what I’ve learned about teaching to adult learners into the area of faith formation.===JACK:  I read someplace that "Faith is caught, not taught."  I loved teaching confirmation classed, but I'd do it differently today. 

FROM FACEBOOK LIZ:  i loathed school...===JACK:  I'm sorry to hear that.  You must have gone to the same school as Churchill.===LIZ:  i think we both were prolly bored to tears bc it did not interest us, nor did it move along at our pace.  i went to private school mostly, which was waaay better than public. i liked the people and the architecture... st katharine’s in dport, graduated from the villa. ===JACK:  I think that it's the teacher, rather than the school, that makes being taught, fun.  Were your teachers mostly nuns?  I know of children who went to 1-room schools...enjoyed it and got a great education.  I seem to remember that you got a great education at home, too.===LIZ:  st katharine’s was episcopal, but not when i went there. there were episcopal nuns in my mother’s day. the villa had nuns... mostly very kind souls. i did not like that the catholic girls made fun of them.   school felt like jail... boring, LET ME OUT!===JACK:  I was a clock watcher.

FROM ST PAUL IN ST PAUL:  Dr. Roy Harrisville at Luther Seminary was a hoot!   Taught N T theology... ===JACK:  G. Everett Arden would dramatically act out Biblical stories...Like Abraham and Isaac and the altar.  "Dad, where's the lamb for the sacrifice?  Why are you looking at me that way?  What?  You want me to climb on those rocks?"

FROM WILLMAR REV:  Good question? One to ponder. More so when back in the classrooms of earlier years. ===JACK:  What was your hardest class in school?  Mine was math.===REV:  High School-- Geometry!! I even dropped it. Being from Kansas and dealing only in square dimensions, I couldn't get in my head how that course could help me? ===JACK:  Farm boys have to know how to figure out bushels per acre...or something like that.

FROM SHOP TEACHER DAN:  I always tried to make learning fun. Dan===JACK:  I spent many hours in "shop," most of them in the drafting room.  In fact, after graduation that was the direction I was headed until I got the call to become a pastor.  In shop I liked woodworking best and often thought that I would like to have a lathe.  Machine shop was OK, but not a favorite.===DAN:  That is the reason I became a drafting teacher. One of my students Mike McCoy loved wood shop.  He started his on business Coy Construction ===JACK:  At times the twists and turns of life are fascinating.  It's almost as though God is there pulling the strings.

FROM TAMPA SHIRL:  I love to learn and I love being taught!===JACK:  What Life-Long Learning classes have you taken lately....or what ones were especially interesting to you?