Riding a wave

[Zoe7]

Absolutely 100% spot -on @Faith-and-Hope - it is like you are in my classroom lol

I think that is why I enjoyed doing the crosswords with you so much. As part of our spelling lessons each day there was always a thesaurus tasks - and it was one of the most 'competitive' parts of the day. The kids would challenge each other to see who could find the most words that meant the same. My part was to (occasionally laugh at them lol) when they tried to pronounce words - that was one of our 'rules' they needed to be able to say the new words and know what they meant. As you can probably image - a 20 minute spelling timeframe would often blow out to the whole morning  Those that finished earlier would line up to challenge each other on pronouncing words that would be on the 'big' board - I have never had so much fun - and the kids too - with spelling lessons ever. Some of the pronunciations of words was priceless and we would all be ROFL 

[Faith-and-Hope]

We had a teacher at one stage who would come in and write on the blackboard half a dozen of the strangest sounding words we had even seen / heard.  The first challenge was to try to pronounce them.  The second challenge was to look them up in the dictionary and find their meaning.  It was so much fun.  I think it taught many of us a real enjoyment of language.  A lot of the words sounded entirely made up.

[Zoe7]

One of the most rewarding things as a teacher is then seeing students use such words in their writing - and in the correct context @Faith-and-Hope It then becomes authentic learning and not just an 'activity' that is done to fill time 

[Faith-and-Hope]

Oh yes .... I forgot that part .... we used to make our teacher roar with laughter when we found application for these weird and wonderful words in our normal classroom writing activities .... appropriately, but of course it sounded strange.

😁

[Zoe7]

@Faith-and-Hope At least once a week we would do a class writing activity. All characters and settings would be chosen by the students. We would also devise an opening sentence as a group then the kids would go off in small groups and write a narrative. They also needed to include the words we were working with for spelling. Some of the stories were hilarious - some of the kids would act out their stories instead of simply read them. I used to sit on the floor to listen as I knew I would end up there through laughter eventually. At the end, the most imaginative story was 'judged' by the whoile class and they received 2 class rewards each (all the other kids got one). The rewards were either tokens towards their school based reward system or lollies (yes lollies lol) - it was amazing how many chose the tokens. It was often a case of one lolly for them and one for me though lol

[Zoe7]

@Phoenix_Rising  @Faith-and-Hope ...Little Turtle, Flutterby and Pink Flowers - all together... bye for now little turtle and F&H 

[Phoenix_Rising]

Good evening @Zoe7,

It is absolutely totally a bazillion percent fine for you to move into the underwater cave for the foreseeable future. I have to admit though, I am feeling a bit bemused. You do know that I'm the one who wrote the disrespectful and offensive post, right? I'm the one that the moderator was concerned was going to cause you harm via the post I wrote. I am the one who neither loves you nor worries about you. What the heck would that moderator think if she knew you had decided to bunker down in an underwater cave with me all the way at the bottom of the ocean? Are you sure this is safe hanging out with a turtle who is known to have tendencies towards being disrespectful and offensive? I'm thinking of getting a warning label made for my shell: Warning, contains hazardous material, engage with at own risk.

I have never thought about the idea that people mistake validation for attention, but I can see how that could happen. I was very much labelled as "attention seeking" when I started super struggling in my late teens and thus I guess for me, being ignored and being invalidated have kind-of gone hand-in-hand for my entire adult life. But reflecting on it now, I definitely agree that giving someone attention and validating their emotions, experiences etc. are two different things.

I super love that you are reading along with the adventure Zoe7. You do realise that hanging out here in the underwater cave, you are going to get sneak peaks of what's coming up in the adventure don't you.

I have a post ready to go, but will hold off until Wednesday to post it. Then I want to get the final bit of the introduction done, ready to post on Friday. This is what I was aiming to write yesterday...and then the day fell apart. I have another marking gig starting on Saturday, and before then I need to actually figure out the answers to the questions I am marking. I am hoping this gig won't be as all consuming as the last one because the lecturer has now made it such that I can access the papers myself, whereas last time I lost a few days waiting for her to send them to me. Also, last time my big change-the-world adventure (and recovering from the change-the-world adventure) meant I lost days. So...I'm not planning to totally drop off the planet, but I will be busy for a while from Saturday onwards. Hopefully this is going to synchronize nicely with where @CheerBear is at with the adventure.

It was interesting reading you and @Faith-and-Hope converse about teaching. I feel the weight of responsibility with marking. I super know how stressful uni can be and I hate giving bad marks. At the same time, the quality of most students' work is amazingly poor. Thus I tend to give the marks that I feel the work deserves, along with mountains of feedback. This upcoming gig is for the same subject as the one I did the other week so I'll be curious to see whether they took on board the feedback.

[Zoe7]

Let's see @Phoenix_Rising... If my recollection is correct (and I know it is lol) I helped you to build the underwater cave - AND added our private/quiet rooms off the side of the cave - AND was one of the first to be given instructions to sharp turn left and dive deep! So I would say I am TOTALLY fine taking up residence in the underwater cave with you little turtle  For goodness sake little turtle - you put up with me teasing you with the occasional  lol - you come into TOR or struggle thread and actually 'touch' me (which I still find so selfless of you knowing how hard that is) when I don't know what else to do, you even let me sit on your nose every now and then without 'telling me off' too much - so I think any disrespect or offence is probably much more in the majority from me NOT you LOL

I am definitely not in a place that I can read for myself atm so reading along with you and CB (and whoever else is doing the same) is about all I can offer. I know the next couple of weeks for me are going to get even worse - there is nothing I can do to change that as I come off one med and onto another. I am already feeling the physical effects full-on and we do not know how I will react to the new med (completely different to any I have had so far) - plus hospital tomorrow - and I am still in a huge muddle on here (still don't get it!!!). Emotionally I am completely broken and if I could end it all right now I would but I am going to try to hold on until after tomorrow and see if there is an answer to my stomach pain. The thought of hospital is so terrifying that I have completely 'shut-down' my emotions around that for now - has been too much to handle. I hope it stays this way because I know I cannot start feeling that level of fear again without there being serious consequences.

I do have very strong opinions about the difference between attention-seeking behaviour and wanting/needing validation but I may leave that for another time!

Post when you like on your adventure little turtle - I am sure there are alot of people following that would love to hear your summaries and thoughts anytime 

[Zoe7]

A little present for you @Phoenix_Rising 

[Phoenix_Rising]

Your picture hasn't appeared yet @Zoe7...but the fact that you are laughing tells me it is going to be something that I will super love. Gee, I need to be disrespectful and offensive more often - apparently it gets me presents! And you are absolutely right - throwing love hearts at my head is the epitome of disrespect and offensiveness.

It is time for me to snuggle into my shell now @Zoe7. Where is that @CheerBear? I'm ready to go into my shell in her pocket while she sits in her blanket in her nest in my cave at the bottom of the ocean. So...you snuggle over there @Zoe7...no, too close...over THERE... and then @CheerBear can sit here...no not there, HERE...and I can crawl into her pocket.

Good night Forum Land. @Former-Member are you the @Former-Member watching over the ocean tonight? Super big thank you for being here. I feel much safer with you and the other SANE moderators watching the ocean.