Ronald Bovill's Blog (29)

Reflective thought has always been a part of my day as well. Long before I became a teacher, I had been introduced to the art of self-reflection. As a youth, I attended Catholic grade school. Each Friday, Sister Barbara, would transport our class from the school to the church so that we might go to confession. Before we started this forced march, we were all asked to put our heads on our desktops, close our eyes, and examine our consciences.

To jog our collective memories, Sister would… Continue

"The Unexamined Life, Is not worth Living." Aristotle

Reflective thought has always been a part of our day. Dr. Z, my wife, often refers to the many hours of contemplative time she spent in her mother's flower garden and the benefits of that activity. On more than one occasion, she has revealed that many of her beliefs and values concerning education were first formulated in private thought and reflection among the blossoms of early spring. I am delighted to tell you that it is still the… Continue

As teachers, we provide the tools necessary to allow our students choices during their lives. One of our tasks is to help our students remove the limits that self-doubt promotes. We must not produce one-dimensional twits, that merle parrot-back the information we as teachers present. That is not teaching; that is presenting and it has no business in an effective teacher's classroom. There is no gain in this monologue. No teacher should feel remotely successful if that is the end result of their… Continue

Teaching is so much more than an occupation. It cannot be defined in the traditional sense. How does one describe what teachers accomplish in thousands of classrooms each day. To say that our work is just teaching is too simplistic and lacks the depth and passion needed to describe this service, that we as teachers, perform each day. That is what it is, make no mistake about it, we as teachers offer a service of the highest order. To be an effective teacher, one must invest so much more than… Continue

There is absolutely no grace in self-deception. It stymies our growth as a person and suffocates the intellectual process. We cannot lie to ourselves and be effective at anything. Much too often, we prefer to live in a pretend world of contentment. We seem to be able to accept the pain of the lie much better than the pain of reality. We fear that any change in our lives might produce even greater unhappiness, so we insulate our feelings with self-deceit and produce self-loathing and resentment… Continue

Teaching is what we do, it is not what we are. That is our uniqueness as humans. This distinction is the truth that allows us to all to break from the herd and discover our unique personalities and develop our individual styles as teachers. We are like all teachers and yet, we are like no other teacher. It is impossible to leave me outside in the hallway when we walk into our classrooms; we teach who we are each and everyday. That being the case, it is imperative that each of us reflects every… Continue

In my perfect world, it would be acceptable to be slightly irregular

and not be marked down.

My wife and I have been classroom teachers for a combined total of sixty years. We have been effective classroom teachers for most of that time but not all. There have been times when we walked into the classroom spiritually bankrupt and on those days; we were not effective teachers. Our spiritual-self was not right on those days and as a result, our teaching suffered. Our values are confused… Continue

Too many first year teachers and far too many pre-certified teachers, struggle with self-doubt about the adequacy of their preparation. This self-doubt causes them to question not only their abilities to teach, but also their motivation for teaching and their philosophy of education itself. So often they have had to compare their skills against those of a master teacher while preparing themselves to take to the field.

Not only is this not a realistic comparison for them to make but can, if… Continue

My Friends:



As a way of introducing myself to the group, I offer the following work which more of less explains my philosophy of teaching and life.



Life Is Good



Be honest with yourself,

in your thoughts,

in your deeds.

There is no grace in self-deception



Have the courage of self-reflection.

Close examination of your day,

And your behavior,

Refreshes the soul and bathes the spirit.



We have today, this minute in… Continue