R531 Class - Adventures in the Virtual World

6.A. Engage in continual learning to deepen content and pedagogical knowledge in technology integration and current and emerging technologies necessary to effectively implement the Standards•S and Standards•T

Most of you may not know this, but I have joined two college classes at Indiana University Southeast in order to renew my Kentucky Teaching Certification. These are my first graduate classes in the United States!!

One of the classes is about teaching Reading - E545 - a very familiar topic to me. By the title, you probably concluded - rightly so - that this post is not going to be about that class. It is going to be about the one that is somewhat out of my comfort zone (and more in my zone of proximal development - yep, just used a term from the other class, that is how comfortable I am with that one.).

Coded R531, the technology class focuses on the use of computer in education. As the Brazilican (somewhat struggling) learner, I just had to post about it (plus it is an assignment to create a blog post, so here you go).

I do not consider myself digitally-challenged, however, I did feel so last night, as I was reading through the materials. Right off the bat, I learned about Symbaloo, that is sorta, kinda like Pinterest, except that you "pin" websites, rather than pictures. It reminded me of my smartphone screen, with all the apps. I really like how you can sort by topic, and have the hyperlink right there, for future use or reference. In a classroom setting, the teacher could share what the website calls a "webmix", which pretty much is a personalized list of websites, relevant to a topic.

And did I mention my teacher had two videos that she used for her introduction and presentation of the course? She mentioned a website that videos like that could be made on, and - as you probably guessed - I had never heard of.

There were some familiar websites that were discussed also - Youtube, Pinterest, Twitter. But I had never interacted on them with a professional purpose. I learned to create my own playlist on Youtube, and found several articles at Pinterest. In a classroom setting, a teacher could use a playlist as a homework assignment for students who need to catch up on their work - and some of those videos could be produced by the website mentioned above.

I feel that I will learn so much in this class! And just in case you are wondering what the first paragraph is about - that is an ISTE (International Society for Technology in Education) standard for teachers. The one above is about lifelong learning through the use of technology. So let the lifelong learning adventures in the Virtual World begin...

New Year's Resolution - final comments

Hi everyone,

Just wanted to say a few words about this year's resolution (read about it here, laugh about it here, enjoy a sweet treat here and see how cleaning is not my thing here and here).

First of all: It was great to have a one word resolution!!! Throughout the year, even though I did not blog about it after February, the question 'How can I be resourceful in this situation?' was constantly in my mind. I was able to use a lot of stuff in my home that was forgotten and/or unattended (For instance, I did everything for my daughter's first birthday, all the decorations and cupcakes from what I had at hand - ok, I bought a few items on clearance or at yard sales - but I was able to stay on budget and have a wonderful celebration, so that was awesome!!!)

I had planned to do a cleaning series, but after reading a little more about resourcefulness I realized that the most resourceful people in life are the ones who can actually discern what their talents are and focus on them to bring 'beauty from ashes'. And let me tell, cleaning is not my thing. Now don't go thinking that my house is dirty ;), but the fact is that I do not enjoy it and decided I was not gonna torture myself talking about it, just doing it is enough.

So there was the unexpected lesson for me: Being resourceful is not only about using what you have, but about being able to let go of what you don't have. I don't have any interest in cleaning, so I let go of TALKING about it LOL. I don't have creative cooking skills, as you all know, so I gave up on trying to create recipes with leftovers.

I focused on some of my skills: teaching, time and money management, organizing, crafts. That was so much more fun and rewarding than cleaning a dishwasher (read about it here) or eating a disgusting meal (read about it here), although I know I entertained some of you with my failures.

Another lesson I learned was how to be resourceful with my time. Being a working mom and wife, I had to learn how to juggle home, family and work. So time management was a big thing this year, and therefore no blog posts about it until now ;).

Now I look at the New Year ahead of us and wonder: What will be my one word resolution for next year?

What will yours be?

The Brazilican Learner

The Perfect Teacher - Part Six

There is still so much to talk about on this series (catch it from the beginning - read part one here, part two here, part three here, part four here and part five here) so I better get started without delay:

Quick recap for those of you who just got this and don't have time to go back to the other posts: We are talking about life, death, 'afterlife', suffering, heaven, hell and how God, the Perfect Teacher, is teaching us about those things through the lives of Job (Job 21:23-25) and Lazarus and the rich man (Luke 16:19-31). The never-ending length of this series indicates how such a complex topic it is so I strongly recommend reading the Bible verses and other posts to follow the discussion.

Quick recap from last post: I am trying to find an answer to the question why things get reversed in the 'afterlife' for Lazarus and the rich man. Maybe a much more valid question would be why did things start the way they started for Lazarus and the rich man in the first place? And, again, no answer here.(Sorry!)

But let's get back to the answer I think I found for things getting reversed. Remember the book I quoted on the last post, Erasing Hell? Well, the book is talking about hell - can you tell by the title? ;) - and they mention Bible passages with specific stuff that could lead someone to hell. Here is what they say: "Racism, greed, misplaced assurance, false teaching, misuse of wealth, and degrading words to a fellow human being—these are the things that damn people to hell? According to Scripture, the answer is yes." (Chan, Francis; Sprinkle, Preston (2011-07-01). Erasing Hell: What God Said about Eternity, and the Things We've Made Up (p. 124). David C. Cook. Kindle Edition.)

I know that passage is tough and there is so much polemic stuff there, but let's direct our attention to 'misuse of wealth', which is the category where I think the rich man's actions fall into. To talk about 'misuse', one has to see wealth as a tool. So, what is this tool 'wealth' designed for? I guess most people would agree that the ideal use of money would be to bless other people, to ease people's suffering even though it is not the usual way this tool ends up being used for.

I think by now you have figured that the rich man did not use 'wealth' as he could. The Bible tells us that he used it for his own luxury instead of using it for easing Lazarus' suffering. And also according to the Bible, I think that is why things got reversed. ("But Abraham replied, ‘Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received bad things, but now he is comforted here and you are in agony." Luke 16:25)

I guess it is now fair to say we finally have an explanation of why the nameless rich man went to hell. The fact that he was nameless still intrigues me, and it recently occurred to me that perhaps Jesus did not name him because he wanted to show us that anybody could be that man. The irony of being "rich" and going to hell is also very real: What were possessions good for in that instance? That reminds me of another Bible verse in which Jesus asks: "What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul?" Matthew 16:26.

Even though we have an answer for the rich man's situation, one question remains: What about Lazarus? Why did things get reversed for him? Does being poor and suffering in this world mean you will automatically be in heaven in the next one??


And that is where I will stop today. ;)

What do you think about that?

The Brazilican Learner

The Perfect Teacher - Part Five

Here I am to continue our longer-than-I-planned series (read part one here, part two here, part three here and part four here) ... and this will probably not be the last post either, because I am reading an amazing book - Erasing Hell, by Francis Chan and Preston Sprinkle. - and it just happens that I found one of the answers to my doubts on the last post (talk about God's timing!!)!

On part four, I was trying to figure out why the rich man's and Lazarus' lives got reversed. Why, one may think, can't the rich man AND Lazarus have a good life in the 'afterlife'? Why did it have to be reversed? You may even be asking why did Lazarus have to suffer in this life in the first place? Well, I will tell you right away that I do not have the answer to the last question - which, by the way, is a very valid one. Let me try to explain my views on that.

I do not know why Lazarus had to suffer... maybe to show his character, maybe to show the rich man's character, or maybe (more like probably) none of those reasons. The thing is, I don't need to know. Better put, I can't. Why? For one, because I wasn't there. What do I mean by there? There, when Lazarus was designed by God... there, when Lazarus was born... there, when the rich man became or was born rich. There, when they interacted... there, when they died... there, in the 'afterlife'. Basically what I am trying to say is I don't have the whole picture. If nothing else, that would suffice to not be able to judge that situation.

Another reason is because my mind is not capable of doing so. The human brain capability is inferior to God's thoughts. I like it how Chan and Sprinkle put it in perspective: "Let’s not think that spending a bit of time meditating on the mysteries of the universe places us on a level that allows us to call God into question. Our God is not a person who is slightly more intelligent: His thoughts are infinitely higher than ours." (Chan, Francis; Sprinkle, Preston (2011-07-01). Erasing Hell: What God Said about Eternity, and the Things We've Made Up (pp. 133-134). David C. Cook. Kindle Edition.)

Isn't it amazing how we overrate ourselves? We look at someone's suffering, think about it for a while and figure 'that is just wrong'. On the flip side, we look at a 'bad' person's successes and think the same. God, however, who by the way knows everything, created everything, lives forever AND loves us has the big picture (was there) and has the appropriate mind to make the call who will endure what. The illustration that comes to my mind is of a blindfolded person trying to peel an orange with a spoon. That, if you haven't figured, would be us. Blindfolded (not being there), using a spoon (our limited mind).

It is also amazing how easily we underrate God. Let me quote Chan and Sprinkle one more time to expose my point: "Would you have thought to rescue sinful people from their sins by sending your Son to take on human flesh? Would you have thought to enter creation through the womb of a young Jewish woman and be born in a feeding trough? Would you have thought to allow your created beings to torture your Son, lacerate His flesh with whips, and then drive nails through His hands and feet? Parents, imagine it." (Chan, Francis; Sprinkle, Preston (2011-07-01). Erasing Hell: What God Said about Eternity, and the Things We've Made Up (p. 136). David C. Cook. Kindle Edition.) My answer to all those questions would be NO, I wouldn't have thought of that, and NO, I would have NOT done it.

But God... The Perfect Teacher... did think it and did do it.

Before I go on, let me point out a key word here: allow. God ALLOWED that and all the bad stuff to happen. That does not mean it pleased Him. God is not pleased by all the evil stuff we see going on in our world. But He allows it to happen. And again, I don't know why. I know I may be loosing some of you here, but here is what it comes to: "The truth is, God is perfect and right in all that He does. I am a fool for thinking otherwise. He does not need nor want me to “cover” for Him. There’s nothing to be covered. Everything about Him and all He does is perfect. Yet sometimes from our human perspective, it’s tough to see exactly how God is perfect and just and good." (Chan, Francis; Sprinkle, Preston (2011-07-01). Erasing Hell: What God Said about Eternity, and the Things We've Made Up (p. 133). David C. Cook. Kindle Edition.)

And that, my friends, is that. He knows it. I don't.

The funny thing is that my question 'Why did things got reversed for the rich man and Lazarus in the afterlife?' is still unanswered. At least on this post ;).

Hopefully on the next one I will be able to say what I found out about it...

'Till then...

May God bless you and guide you!

The Brazilican Learner

The Perfect Teacher - Part Four

Hi there,

Well, I will start by saying I hope this is the last post in the series... I won't make any promises though, the more I think about it, more comes to mind so... let's get going!

Luke 16:23 gives us an overview of the rich man in hell: "In hell, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side."  How fascinating this verse is ... to think of how life after death looks like. Somehow heaven can be seen from hell... and Abraham is there... with Lazarus... their lives on Earth were so far apart from each other and yet there they are, together in heaven... On Earth, the rich man saw Lazarus' suffering very closely but on the other 'side' Lazarus might be seeing it from a distance... (I am telling you, it gets harder and harder to finish this discussion...)

"So he called to him, 'Father Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this fire.', verse 24 says. Now, two distinct things jump out of the page to me: first, what terrible suffering must the rich man be going through... a drop of water would satisfy him! And yet, somehow, the fire is not consuming him because he can communicate his pain. Now for those of you who did not watch the Secret Church simulcast this year, I strongly recommend it. David Platt explains the whole hell/heaven situation so well (Watch, read or listen the simulcast here).

On the other hand, my mind is like, 'Wait a minute, send Lazarus...?' It seems like his view of Lazarus is finally revealed... a servant, a means to his advantage. While on Earth, the rich man never intentionally ended Lazarus' suffering, because Lazarus was "longing to eat what fell from the rich man's table" (verse 21 - italics is mine). And now, on the 'afterlife', somehow he expected Lazarus to do for him what he hadn't done for Lazarus in his lifetime! If you read the second part of Abraham's response in verse 26, it even feels like Lazarus wanted to help him ("And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us." - italics is mine.).

I don't know about you, but there is so much going on in my mind right now! First of all, WOW! Leave heaven to go to hell for someone who did not care about you in the first place? That, indeed, is an indication of love right there. And, if Lazarus really did want to go there to ease the rich man's suffering, wouldn't he get hurt too? And would the rich man care if that was the case? For me, it all indicates that the rich man could not see anyone's suffering but his own. He was suffering, he needed water, Lazarus was supposed to serve him, no matter what.

But let's back up a minute, let's go back to the first part of Abraham's response: "Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received bad things, but now he is comforted here, and you are in agony.". Is it just me or does this part of Abraham's answer sound like he is talking to a child? I feel the warmth and patience of a father talking to his son in that tone. He is explaining the new situation to him, how their lives got reversed. At this point, I am still looking for answers. I still can't figure out why things got reversed. What about you?

Again, I am going to bid you goodbye and let you digest those ideas - I love how Americans use the analogy of food in everything  hehehehe ;) .

The Brazilican Learner

The Perfect Teacher - Part Three

Hello everyone,

After a long time, here I am to (try to) finish The Perfect Teacher series (read part one here and part two here)... Well, remember the movie credits I talked about? It took them a long time to be revealed also (much more time than it took me to write this last post)... because Job is one of the first written books of the Bible and it was Jesus who was able to answer that question, thousands of years later (Disclaimer: That number is an estimate, I am not sure of the exact number of years between Job and Jesus - maybe someone can give us that information?).

Anyway, let's quickly bring Job's ideas to the discussion: "One man dies in full vigor, completely secure and at ease, his body is well-nourished, his bones rich with marrow. Another man dies in bitterness of soul, never having enjoyed anything good. Side by side they lie in the dust, and worms cover them both." (Job21:23-25). See, it is like he is saying: no matter what kind of life you lived, in the end it will all be the same, worms will eat you!!!! (Yuck, I know.)

BUT JESUS...

... The Perfect Teacher

... wants to show us otherwise. Let's take a look at Luke 16:19-31. Right off the b___ (American friends, is the expression right off the batch, right off the bat, right off the bet... or something else? Please fill the blank for me hehe), Jesus gives us the same situation: " There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and lived in luxury every day. At his gate was laid a beggar named Lazarus, covered with sores and longing to eat what fell from the rich man's table. Even the dogs came and licked his sores." (Luke 46: 19-21).

There they are, the rich man with lots of marrow in his bones and the beggar, never having enjoyed anything good - so if anyone was wondering, having your sores licked by dogs is not enjoyable ;). Jesus adds a few more details - the rich man not only was healthy but lived a luxurious life. And the beggar (don't you guys think it is interesting that he was named by Jesus?) had a name and a horrific life.

Verse 22 tells us that they both died. Lazarus went to heaven, carried by angels (pretty luxurious, I would say) and the rich man to hell. The Bible doesn't say how he got there, but I can only imagine it was not a pretty scene. Anyways, there they are. Jesus could have ended it here, the main question is 'kinda' answered: No, people don't have the same ending.  But why? Only because they had a good life, they deserve an eternity of suffering? If that was the case, I would definitely take suffering first, then heaven!

That is why I said the answer is 'kinda' answered. We need more answers, if you know what I mean. Here are my thoughts as I read this: Sooooo, wait a minute, the rich man did not necessarily choose to be rich, maybe he was born like that, maybe he was royalty, maybe ... who knows what? I find it very interesting that Jesus did not name him. Maybe it means that it does not matter who he was - that is, why he was rich, how he may have achieved that status. All that mattered was that everyday he had a good life. And that at some point a beggar came to make his gate look ugly.

Oh, there is so much stuff I could say right here... how sometimes a 'nuisance' could have been our turning point if we let God work, how ungrateful we are for life's trials (I am pretty much guilty on both instances), etc... but let's keep our focus on those two...

Or not, hehehe... I need to stop because the post is getting big... and I still have a lot to explore in this passage... sooooooooooooooo, this was not the last post on the series... but hang in there, there is more to come...

Like the Americans say, here is some "food for thought", if you are interested: Read the rest of the story in Luke. What do you think is the real difference between the rich man and Lazarus? (Hint: it has nothing to do with money.)

The Brazilican Learner

The Perfect Teacher - Part Two

Well, where did we stop? Oh, yes, we were talking about Job and the tragedy that came on his life (read about it here).

So there he is no money, no family, no support, no health... he hit rock bottom, like the Americans say. In the midst of all that tragedy, Job's "friends" accused him of being guilty for being in that situation. Like we can choose what will happen to us, ha ha.

Anyway, Job's response to all that is: "Why do the wicked live on, growing old and increasing in power? {That is, they are old and healthy} They see their children established around them, their offspring before their eyes {Remember Job lost all his children at the same time}. Their homes are safe and free from fear; the rod of God is not upon them. Their bulls never fail to breed {In today's terms, their investments always make a profit}. (...) They spend their years in prosperity and go down to the grave in peace." (Job 21: 7-10a;13). P.S. The note between {} in italics are mine.

Basically what Job is doing here is comparing his life to the wicked man's life, and by wicked he means the one who does not care for God or follow His commands. So there it is: Job is a God-follower and his life sucks and the non-follower's life is soooooooo much better than his. He adds: "One man dies in full vigor, completely secure and at ease, his body is well-nourished, his bones rich with marrow. Another man dies in bitterness of soul, never having enjoyed anything good. Side by side they lie in the dust, and worms cover them both." (Job21:23-25)

What I believe he is saying is that some wicked people will live their whole lives, until the end, in prosperity and without being punished for their sins, while others, where God-followers or not, will have a whole life of suffering and end like that. And then they will both die and that will be the end of it. Or will it?

For us, finite beings with a finite perspective of life and death, that is the end. That is until how far we can see. God, however, sees it differently. It is like those movies that have a "hidden" scene at the end of the credits. Let's say that us humans leave the movie theater as soon as the credits start ("The end" at the screen means our bodily death in this illustration).God, however, already knows what that "hidden" scene will be.And He is so kind to show it to us. In the case of Job, however, he dies without seeing it.

YES, I know that in the end his life turns around and he has double children and double riches (Job 42:12-17), but that is not what I am talking about. That is not what Job 21:23-25 talks about either. I am sure you or someone in your circle of friends knows someone who was mean until the end of their lives and all went well to them. And also someone who was the sweetest person you have ever met and their lives were miserable. Verses 23-25 are talking about those people.

Ok, I am going to stop here today and leave you wondering (hopefully) what and where the "hidden" scene is. Let me just tell you upfront it is not in the book of Job. It is not even in the Old Testament. But it is in the Bible. And I will talk about it on the next post of this series.

The Brazilican Learner