I came across these crazy front steps while on my way to a pub outing last night to celebrate a colleague's birthday. I wonder if that's a single building, or two buildings with a common owner, or just two neighbors who adapted the same style of tiling?
Going to the pub was just about the only interesting thing that happened all day -- I tried a beer called "Pretty Good Beer," or something like that, which I thought was a refreshingly candid name. (Actually it may have been from this company, Pretty Decent Beer, which has varieties with names like "I Reckon That's a Banksy" and "My Ex Was in a Band and They Had a Hit Called Sheryl Crow.")
Otherwise, it was a very quiet day, with many students already gone for Thanksgiving. While tidying shelves I saw this pattern on a window in the afternoon, shadows thrown by a scaffold outside the building.
Today we've got a meeting and some professional development in the morning, and then Dave and I are free until next Monday! The PD focuses on working with "neurodiverse" students. I'm not sure what to expect from that.
So long as the PD accepts the point that neurodiverse people of all ages are individual..like all of humanity..and one size doesn't fit all.
ReplyDeleteNice library shot.. very geometrical.
The steps? Are there others using those tiles in the same street..or maybe a builder with a job lot !
Yes, that was very much the point of the PD, I think -- that even within so-called diagnoses, or categories, there is wide variation.
DeleteYou can't beat a bit of professional development when you have other things to do. And as for being free till Monday... "(You) will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, free at last, free at last, thank God almighty we are free at last."
ReplyDeleteOr maybe like FDR's Four Freedoms? There's a fifth -- "Freedom from Work"!
DeleteThose steps would be wild on their own, but side-by-side and unmatched is even better! Maybe it was a competition between two lesser-known Vanderbilt sisters-in-law. That shadow scaffold image is wonderful. I’ll be interested to read about your PD.
ReplyDeleteI don't think even a lesser-known Vanderbilt would have been living in either of these buildings.
DeleteI was going to make a sarcastic comment about personal development but the word neurodiverse has silenced me.
ReplyDeleteYou'll see it around a lot. It's very au courant.
DeleteUgh. I don't miss PD at all. In my district, they called it Staff Development. I called it Staph Development. Enjoy your time away.
ReplyDeleteHa! It does seem like an infection.
DeleteWell, I guess it is important to be able to recognize and work with neurodiverse children. I hope you get something out of the experience. Have big fun on your trip!
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely -- although everyone grimaces at PD, this does seem like potentially valuable knowledge.
DeleteThose steps are making me dizzy, and the fact that they don't like up annoys me!
ReplyDeleteAnd yet that makes them kind of interesting!
DeleteI'd hate to navigate those steps after a party! Have a good time on your trip.
ReplyDeleteYeah, they could definitely lead one to stumble!
DeleteSafe travels! and Happy Thanksgiving, Steve! I am so thankful for your blog! xo
ReplyDeleteThank you, Ellen! :)
DeleteThose shadows are lovely! Have a wonderful getaway and Happy Thanksgiving!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Jeanie!
DeleteI love that pattern on the window. Hmmmm...neurodiverse children. I wonder what that means. Safe travels for your Thanksgiving adventure.
ReplyDeleteIt's the buzzword for kids with any information processing or expressing "disorder," such as autism, dyslexia, etc.
DeleteI had to Google it:
ReplyDelete"Neurodiversity” is a popular term that's used to describe differences in the way people's brains work. The idea is that there's no “correct” way for the brain to work. Instead, there is a wide range of ways that people perceive and respond to the world, and these differences are to be embraced and encouraged."
I hope everyone (and there pets!) have a wonderful Thanksgiving!
There you go! That's it!
DeleteNeuro diverse is a new term to me!
ReplyDeleteIt's sort of the current buzzword. Been around a few years.
DeleteI wonder if that's the new term for how different people learn in different ways. I read a book back when my kids were in elementary or middle school (can't think of the title now) about the different ways people/children learn. some are visual learners, some by rote, some by doing, etc as an explanation about why some children do well in school and some don't because our schools only teach one method of learning. if you don't learn well that way it's not because you are dumb, or inattentive, or incapable of learning.
ReplyDeleteI suppose that might be a subtle form of neurodiversity, but I think this is more like autism, dyslexia, things like that. The border between normal learning differences and a so-called "disorder" is not always clear, though.
DeleteThose are very interesting patterns in your two photos!
ReplyDeleteI hope you, Dave, and Olga have a fun and relaxing time away.
Thanks, Kelly!
DeleteTo echo Ellen's comment, when I was coming up through grade school (back when dinosaurs roamed the earth) we memorized. Flash cards were the teaching tool of the day, words, arithmetic, times tables, we memorized. Woe be unto the kid whose brain did not work that way.
ReplyDeleteKids still use flash cards sometimes. Several AP study guide publishers, like Barron's, put out sets of flash cards.
DeleteThose steps make me dizzy! I wouldn't want to walk on them or even walk by them if I'd had a beer or two. Catchy names for drinks are the rage. PD to learn about neurodivergence (we called it autism) would be helpful, unlike the many days we spent poring over data or doing horrific team building/bonding exercises.
ReplyDeleteYeah, at least there's practical knowledge here!
DeleteYou may learn some useful things about how brains work and perceive differently which can be helpful in your school. Enjoy the holiday.
ReplyDeleteWell, that's the hope, anyway!
DeleteJust looking at the photo of black and white tiles makes me dizzy. I can't imagine living there.
ReplyDeleteNow I am curious about what your PD has to say about neurodivergence.
Enjoy your time on holiday.
See subsequent post! :)
DeleteHm, weird that the paths are different widths. It looks to me like the one on the left is newer, though, partly the shape of the steps ....it would be interesting to see the rest of the building, that might make it clearer. 9I live quite near you, which street are they in? I'm interested in this kind of thing in what I admit may seem a slightly geeky way LOL)
ReplyDeleteHi Jenny! Sorry I'm getting back to you so belatedly. They are in St John's Wood, on Abercorn Place.
DeleteI love the photo of the window and shadows. Happy Thanksgiving! Enjoy your long weekend.
ReplyDeleteLove,
Janie
Thanks and I hope you're enjoying the holiday too!
DeleteWhenever I find books out of place in a library I have to return it to the correct place even if it only the next shelf ! Years of shelf tidying does that to you ! Beware you don't start on tins in the wrong place on the supermarket shelf 😂
ReplyDeleteHa! I do the same thing, in supermarkets and elsewhere. Can't stand disorganization!
Delete