Special Education Today newsletter 4(11)
Special Education Today newsletter 4(11)
Don't I owe readers an update for the week that began 2 September 2024?
Hello, dear readers, wherever you are…and you are all over Earth. There are readers of Special Education Today not only in the US, but also in Canada, the UK, Taiwan, Australia, Morocco, Portugal, Mexico, Chile, New Zealand, Myanmar, India, Pakistan, Brazil, Argentina, South Korea, Saudi Arabia, Nigeria, Uzbekistan, Italy, Germany, the Czech Republic, Serbia, Norway, Poland, Iceland, Finland, Austria, France, and about 16 more countries (I can’t make Substack produce a full list—sigh). Looking at this list makes me happy!
All y’all are invited to read this issue of the newsletter for SET. It has the usual components: (a) a photo, (b) some admin notes, (c ) links to the posts for the previous week, and (d) some editorializing. Pretty familiar, I suppose.
Photo
This photo repeats a scene that regular readers may recognize, because I posted an earlier shot of the same scene a few weeks ago. This version is from last week, though, and it’s a tad different. In particular, you might notice that there are differences in the survey markers; the previous photo only had markers on the trees in the foreground. In this shot, the one on the tree to the left is shorter and there’s a new one on the ground a few meters past those marked trees in the foreground.
One day I shall brace myself (“screw up my courage?”) and walk a few meters into the light woods past this entrance. What could be down there? Might I find forgotten verses to a Robert Frost poem about The Road Not Taken? Might I discover a passage to another part Narnia where C. S. Lewis might provide me with opportunities to meet with great sci-fi writers?1 Or might I be abducted by Time Bandits (Terry Gilliam’s, not the newer TV version)? Might I find myself transported into one of Lev Grossman’s schools for magicians?2
Status update
Bouquets to those who dropped comments this past week:Sally B., Dan H., Tom Z., Jane B., and Cheryl. I hope I remembered to reply to your contributions.
Welcome and smiles to Kimberly C., Leena, Eric B., Sandra D., and any other new subscribers to SET. I’m glad y’all are here and I hope the newsletters and posts prove helpful and entertaining…I guess those are two pretty demanding criteria, no?
The total number of subscribers continues to grow a little each week, as the list in the previous paragraph indicated. SET is about at 730 subscribers and 840 followers (which is subscribers plus people who “follow” in the Xitter sense).
Please help SET grow. Tell your friends, especially those who are influencers!
Ersatz ToC
Here’s the customary list of posts, including both those that I mailed to subscribers and those that I simply published on the site. (Remember, please, that you can always go to https://www.specialeducationtoday.com/ to see whether you’ve missed anything.)
Special Education Today newsletter 4(10): Shall we recapture the week of 26 August 2024?
Jane B. snagged the first SET reader award: Thanks to Jane for consistently reading and interacting with the posts on SET.
P. Coyne on rewards and intrinsic motivation: Do the popular treatments accurately report what we know?
ASAT newsletter is available: What will readers find in this month's issue?
Sharing is a laudable thing: Who in the community shares SET with others?
Maintaining the mainstream: There's help out there: What did Tom Lovitt have to say about adapting instruction in May 1984?
Friday photos: More Jim Kauffman: While scrolling through some photos, whom do you think I found?
And we have a winner!: How about a Paralympic champion in archery who shoots without using his arms?
Notes and comments
This past week my sister Hannah’s birthday came and went. She passed away a couple of years ago, so I had to send my b’day wishes off into the ether, not get to say them to her face. Here’s a photo of Hannah with our mother.
Hannah was pretty special. I know…I know: Just about everyone probably considers his or her sister to be special. But I looked up at her. Part of that was because as kids she was seven years older than I. She knew a lot of things I didn’t know. She knew how to play piano, to paint and draw…we shared interests in words and books…she could play bridge (and other card games) better than I could…she had friends who had pretty cool cars. She was “mom” to four children whom I’m glad to have as a nephew and three nieces. All in all, I thought she was pretty special.
Hannah and I had lots of fun together. I’m so very glad to have had those good times with her. I miss her a lot, but I’m very happy to have the good memories so that I can romp around in them for her birthday (and other times, too)!
I know that Hannah took care of me when I was way little and watched out for me throughout her life. She was a good person like that. She had a befriended many people and cared about them.
And that’s something that I hope all of you, dear readers, are doing, too. Of course, not only do I hope you’re taking care of your family and friends, but I hope that you are remembering to teach your children well.
Thanks for reading!
JohnL
John Wills Lloyd, Ph.D., UVA Professor Emeritus, and Founder & Editor, https://www.SpecialEducationToday.com/
Footnotes
Yes, there’s a hint of a reference there to Woody Allen’s Midnight in Paris. Anyway, while we’re down here in this footnote…there are plenty of sci-fi fantasy writers whom I think I’d enjoy talking (Bradbury, Clark, Sturgeon, Tolkien, among others), but the first one I’d seek would be Octavia Butler.
Yes, I have a pretty rich fantasy life. Those examples are not the least of it. Stay tuned! Don’t touch that dial!