About the World

Cookie Dough:

3 cups (420 grams) all purpose flour

1/4 teaspoons salt

3/4 teaspoon baking soda

2 teaspoons ground ginger

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

1/2 cup (113 grams) unsalted butter, room temperature

1/2 cup (100 grams) granulated white sugar

1 large egg

2/3 cup (160 ml) unsulphured molasses

Note: To prevent the molasses from sticking to the measuring cup, first spray the cup with a non stick vegetable spray (like Pam).

Confectioners Frosting:

2 cups (230 grams) confectioners sugar (icing or powdered sugar), sifted

1/2 cup (113 grams) unsalted butter, room temperature

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1 1/2 tablespoons milk or light cream

Assorted food colors (if desired)

Gingerbread Men: In a large bowl, sift or whisk together the flour, salt, baking soda, and spices. Set aside.

Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the egg and molasses and beat until well combined. Gradually add the flour mixture beating until incorporated.

Divide the dough in half, and wrap each half in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least two hours or overnight.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (177 degrees C) and place rack in center of oven. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside while you roll out the dough.

On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough to a thickness of about 1/4 inch. Use a gingerbread cutter to cut out the cookies. With an offset spatula lift the cut out cookies onto the baking sheet, placing the cookies about 1 inch (2.54 cm) apart. If you are hanging the cookies or using as gift tags, make a hole at the top of the cookies with a straw or end of a wooden skewer.

Bake for about 8 - 12 minutes depending on the size of the cookies. Small ones will take about 8 minutes, larger cookies will take about 12 minutes. They are done when they are firm and the edges are just beginning to brown.

Remove the cookies from the oven and cool on the baking sheet for about 1 minutes. When they are firm enough to move, transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

If desired, you can press raisins, currants, or candies into the dough for eyes and buttons while the cookies are still warm. Otherwise, confectioners frosting can be used to decorate the cookies. You can also use the icing as a glue to attach candies, raisins, and sprinkles.

Confectioners Frosting: In an electric mixer (or with a hand mixer), cream the butter until smooth and well blended. Add the vanilla extract. With the mixer on low speed, gradually beat in the sugar. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and beater. Add the milk and beat on high speed until frosting is light and fluffy (about 3-4 minutes). Add a little more milk if too dry. Place the frosting in a pastry bag fitted with a decorative tip and decorate the gingerbread men as desired.

Tint portions of frosting with desired food color.

Makes about 3 dozen cookies depending on the size of cookie cutter used.

Store in an airtight container

Okay, so this is what I told them.

Me: Supervisor, I have to talk to you urgently. I must leave soon to go back home to get married. My fiancee’s grandfather is sick and he wants to witness the wedding or else will exclude us from the will. I feel terrible, and i dont know what to do. I know i have only been here for 3 months and everyone just started to get settled with me. I love working here but I have to go do this. Not for me so much as for my fiancee.

Supervisor: OMG that’s so great. Well not for us but for you! I’m so happy for you. Don’t worry about us. Your life doesn’t revolve and shouldn’t revolve around your job, EVER! Just write a resignation letter so that we can send it to the parents

Omg, so it went really well and I wrote the letter and talked to the parents. I kept it mum with the parents but the staff thinks i’m actually going to go get married!  And I think they are planning a party or a cake for me! OMG it’s awful.  For all the times I’ve left my job this is absolutely the worst. Not only is everyone so nice to me and so happy for me. But I’m going to be working in the same area almost. So I might run into the parents or the staff! I just need to go two months without being seen, then I can call and let them know I’m not coming back. OMG.

I’m going to write an apology letter and post it for the next blog. I have to stop lying at work. The lies just start going around and around and you have to build one on top of the other and try to keep things straight.

Oye!

I’ve come to that point again. That point where I didn’t think I would come to for atleast another 6 months. Yes, I need to quit my job. This always happens. I apply for a job that seems absolutely terrific. Everything is as it should be and I even start to picture myself in the future being an expert in that field. Yet, by and by, I find something wrong with it and look for another. I’ve often compared myself to someone who can’t hold a boyfriend. Oye, so here I am again. Only three months into this job and I’ve already found and been hired for another. Now, for the hardest part; The Way Out!

How do you tell your unsuspecting boss that this isn’t working out for  you. Do you tell them the truth (”i’m bored”), do you blame yourself (”its not you, its me”), or do you make up a grand excuse (”my grandmother died in tanzania and I have to go to her funeral”). Whatever you say, you know that you’ll be thought of as an asshole for putting them into a crunch.

I’m not sure what I will say, but I will tell you soon enough.

M

By Sarah Cooper

What is teaching like today? Who should do it? And who shouldn’t? This Education World series features essays on teaching by teachers as they answer the question, “If you had it to do all over again, would you still become a teacher?”

In my mother’s generation, women faced limited career options after college. Many of the brightest chose teaching, and students have benefited from their decision for four decades.

In my generation, women welcome nearly infinite career options, and few have decided to work in schools. My female friends have gone into law, science, academia, and medicine. Why, then, do I teach?

I teach because I have always loved to learn, and I want to model that passion for my students. Teaching requires continual scholarship, never more so than when a student asks a question you haven’t thought about and you need to look it up.

I teach because it’s more fun than any other work I know. When my middle school history students appreciate a contradiction or understand a deep theme, I can feel the zing in the air. When they bounce in after lunch, brimming with sunshine and bursting with energy, they make me laugh as we settle into the lesson.

I teach because it challenges every particle of my being, leaving nothing complacent. Standing in front of a classroom, you are continually exposed. (Just ask the kids to mimic mannerisms you didn’t know you had!) This transparency may sound intimidating, but it means that you are always striving to live up to your best self.

And I teach because it’s the most important thing in the world to do. What is more crucial than instilling responsibility and knowledge in the next generation? At the end of your life, what would you rather have done?

If you yourself are a strong student, full of enthusiasm about learning, consider teaching. If you want to give back to society the time your parents and teachers dedicated to you, consider teaching. We need young, vibrant people like you to replace the master educators who will be retiring in droves over the next decade. Yes, the grading can be dull, the hours long, the pay insufficient. But when you put your feet up on a Friday evening and reflect on the week, you will know that you have given everything you have and more, to the future.

From: http://www.education-world.com/a_curr/profdev/profdev114.shtml

November, 2007

By Lisa Westrick

What is teaching like today? Who should do it? And who shouldn’t? This Education World series features essays on teaching by teachers as they answer the question, “If you had it to do all over again, would you still become a teacher?”

If I had to do it all over again, would I still become a teacher? Absolutely! I’ve been asked that question many times in my career — usually by friends or colleagues after a long, tiring day when I’m complaining about children not behaving, parents not behaving, or any of the many other things that can drive a teacher crazy. I’ve never altered my reply one bit. The answer is: Absolutely!

You see, teaching is what I was born to do. When I come to work each day, I honestly feel as though every one of my personal strengths, talents, and brain cells is being challenged in a way I can’t imagine happening in any other job.

I know, from deep inside, that what I do is important and valuable, even life changing. My own life and the lives of the children I teach develop each and every day in new and often surprising ways. Teacher and writer John W. Schlatter said it best when he wrote, “I have a present that is challenging, adventurous, and fun because I am allowed to spend my days with the future.” That is exactly how I feel, how I’ve always felt about teaching — even on those bad days.

I’ve wanted to be a teacher ever since I spent a year with my own wonderful second grade teacher. Throughout high school or college, I never had doubts that I was pursuing the best career. And each day, when my students walk through the door, when I see their eager faces, when I accept their hugs and the pictures they’ve made just for me, I know there is truly not a better job in all the world.

So, yes, absolutely, I’d do it all again. No question!

From: http://www.education-world.com/a_curr/profdev/profdev114.shtml

November 2007

By Kathleen Cave

What is teaching like today? Who should do it? And who shouldn’t? This Education World series features essays on teaching by teachers as they answer the question, “If you had it to do all over again, would you still become a teacher?”

I knew in fourth grade that I wanted to be a teacher. My reason, as I suspect many people might say is theirs, was because of a wonderful teacher. I don’t even know Mrs. Ellis’s first name, but she meant the world to me.

On my second day of college, I registered as an education major and I never looked back. My first years of teaching were sometimes difficult, and I realized what most of us realize early on — instruction can’t happen in an undisciplined room. I don’t mean a boring room. My desks are always clustered in groups and my students have lots of interaction time with each other and with technology. What I mean is that students desire some routine and structure in their lives. By providing that structure, we meet with success.

Early on, I learned that I should never raise my voice. That was the best lesson of my teaching life. Instead of the stress of constantly raising my voice to get attention, I speak in a very low tone and wait to speak until I know I have everyone’s attention. I try to speak as little as possible, allowing my students to learn from one another, as well as from me. Those two strategies — providing structure and staying calm — have allowed me to love every minute of teaching!

Several years ago, I received a Christa McAuliffe Fellowship, which led to me leaving the classroom for several years to take a position at our State Department of Education. Although my experiences there were invaluable, because I got to work with teachers from all around the state, I missed the classroom. After nearly 5 years away, I returned to teaching 4th grade. I can honestly say that the only thing I miss is the longer lunch period. I love being in a school again!

It’s true that I don’t make a lot of money and the hours are long, but if you like working with children, there is nothing better to do with your life.

From: http://www.education-world.com/a_curr/profdev/profdev114.shtml

November 2007

By Peter W. Cookson, Jr.

Teaching is so much more than just a “job” – what is it then that calls us to teach?

I remember that when I first started teaching, after the first few weeks of total excitement came what might be called a reality check. The profession of teaching is far more complex than many people realize. To be a successful teacher, you must be a leader, a mentor, a friend and an expert. Knowing how to blend these roles into a consistent, public personality is a huge challenge, the response to which will determine your future as a teacher.

You’ve got style
Every successful teacher develops a teaching style. This teaching style is your shorthand way of communicating with your students, ensuring that there is consistency in instruction and creating a safe, predictable environment suitable for children and young people. Teachers who don’t establish a clear teaching style tend to have short careers because if each day is completely different, the job becomes overwhelming and issues of classroom discipline and safety begin to overshadow issues of teaching and learning.

Teachers are like gardeners who plant seeds in fertile earth.

The great thing about teaching styles is there is no best way. You have to find your own style because ultimately, who you are is a cognitive and emotional link to the hearts and minds of your students.

Who are you?
Even more fundamental than teaching styles is the purpose and character you bring to the classroom. Your students look to you primarily as a mentor and a role model. Each little action you take is observed, translated and recorded by all your students. So who you are is absolutely critical to how good a teacher you’re going to be.

Even though you have just begun your career, it’s not too early to revisit the question of why you got into teaching in the first place. Most surveys of new teachers indicate that women and men enter the teaching profession because they desire to serve children and because they believe education is the most productive way of ensuring a better society. Sometimes teachers mention vacations and the ability to leave work at 3:30 or 4:00. These job considerations are very minor in comparison with the call of the teaching vocation.

Answering the call
Very often in our culture, people don’t think of their work as a calling. For many people, their work is a means to an end. They work for a paycheck in order to live their lives. But those of us who are called to teach have a true vocation. Our mission is to increase the world’s capacity for growth by enabling each of our students to fully maximize his or her talents, imagination, analytical skills and character. We are like gardeners who plant seeds in the fertile earth. Add a little intellectual fertilizer, let the sun and the rain bring life to the seeds, and then we get to watch the seeds become flowers and plants and sometimes even towering trees.

A joyful classroom
I’m not entirely clear why some of us are called to teach. Perhaps it’s our own desire to nurture our own talents, perhaps it’s our social commitments or perhaps it’s simply a love of children. Our greatest rewards are always intrinsic; our satisfactions come from watching a child learn a new lesson, watching a student undertake an imaginative journey or watching a youngster suddenly discover the world of ideas and thought. Probably the most exciting thing in a teacher’s life is to see the proverbial lightbulb go off in a student’s head as they suddenly grasp the meaning of a word, the logic of an equation, or the relationship of history to their lives. Central to our vocation is that we bring a joy that cannot be measured but must be seen and felt and heard. A great classroom is a joyful classroom.

Intrinsic rewards
So, the question of why we teach begins with our character and our motivation. Because we have a vocation, we put intrinsic rewards above the extrinsic rewards of salary and status. Sometimes it’s hard to be a teacher because, in general, society treats those who work with children with less respect than they treat those who are highly successful professionally or are wealthy. I am always amazed at how few teachers’ voices are heard in the national debate concerning the future of the teaching profession.

Part of our vocation is to be strong in the face of this lack of social support. In most countries around the world, teachers are held in the highest of esteem; in the United States they rank far below other professions in terms of social status. Yet, does it really matter to you where you rank compared to other professions? It certainly doesn’t matter to me.

Taking a stand
Like you, I also have a calling to teach that seems far grander and more important than most other activities adults do in the course of a day. We must make public our belief in the teaching vocation, we must stand up for ourselves and other teachers,and we must recognize that when teaching is turned into a job from a calling the next generation is imperiled.

It is something of a cliché to say now that teachers touch the future. But like most clichés, this one has more than a grain of truth. Teachers weave the fabric of society; they take the threads of individuals and tie them together so that the fabric is broad, colorful and enduring. Without teachers, the fabric of society would unravel almost instantly, leaving us in a state of confusion and fragmentation. So why teach? We teach because we must and we teach because we are the weavers of society.

From: http://www.teachingk-8.com/archives/your_first_year/why_teach_by_peter_w_cookson_jr.html, November 2005

Nature’s first green is gold,
Her hardest hue to hold.
Her early leaf’s a flower;
But only so an hour.
Then leaf subsides to leaf.
So Eden sank to grief,
So dawn goes down to day.
Nothing gold can stay.

	– Robert Frost

I read this poem for the first time when I was in high school in the book “The Outsiders”. I was never into poetry but this poem just totally spoke to me. This poem fits the story line so perfectly that sometimes I think it was written for the book. When I read it in high school, it was like a realization that you have to cherish your youth because even though your young and naive now, you “golden” age will not stay forever. In the movie, the director has Ponyboy say this poem during sunset to compliment the line “Nothing gold can stay”. Just lovely!

What do you think?

I’ve been testing out bread recipes for a few months now. I have tried recipes with eggs, butter, milk, etc. Using different flours, different yeasts. However, I find that the best bread that I get is the most simplest and easiest.

Here it goes.

Basic Bread:

3 cups Flour

1 tbsp Yeast

1/2 tsp Salt

1 tbsp Sugar

Warm water

1 Egg Whites (optional)

Combine flour, sugar, and salt in a large bowl. Make a small hole in the middle of the flour and add the yeast. Slowly add the warm water on the yeast. Add about 1/2 cup first. Let it sit in the well that holds the yeast. Then add 1 cup, mix the flour and yeast together. Adding more water will depend on your flour so feel it out. I usually end up using 1 1/2-2 cups of water for 3 cups of flour. But you have to feel it out. Add a little at a time until your dough is a ball and there is no flour in the bowl.

At this point, sprinkle your tabletop with flour and roll out the dough. Knead the dough using the palm of your hand. Work the dough until it is smooth, shiny, and has no lumps.

Grease your bowl, place the dough in the bowl, cover it with greased plastic wrap, let it rise for 30-45 mins in a warm room. This is call the FIRST RISING.

The SECOND RISING comes after shaping the bread.

Take out the dough and shape it into a roll. I like to use the “french bread” method. Which is, roll out your dough with a rolling pin, then wrap it up together like you would for a swiss roll.  Cut it the middle to make two loafs. Place it in your loaf pans.  Let it rise again for 30 mins.

Heat your oven to 350 F. Brush your loafs with egg whites. Place in the oven for 20-25 minutes.

Tip: When the bottom has browned, turn up the heat to 375F for 10 minutes. Let the top get a brown colour by turning on the Broiler at the very end on Hi for 2 minutes.

It may seem complicated but its the easiest thing.

I wrote the times for the rising, but if your in cold room, give your bread longer to rise. Its okay if you give it an hour or two.

Have fun and Enjoy.