Teachers

February 17, 2024 Sharon Jacobson

Teachers

After as many years as I have spent taking classes
I have met my share of teachers.
However, those who have taught me the most
in my life
are not amongst them.
There were a few like Dr Diane Samdahl and Dr Gail Ricciuti
who will always have a place in my heart
because that is where they taught from.
My life has been filled with people ,
like my wife, who has taught me what it is like
to truly be loved unconditionally.
Events,
like when I felt the feeling leave my right side and leg,
which taught me how to walk in faith and grace in all situations.
Places,
like our prayer garden,
which have taught me how the universe works and if I blink
I will miss the miracles happening before my eyes.
Things,
like my wax melts
which remind me to stop and breathe
and learn from the memories which still live in me
The teachers in my life,
are more then the people;
they are the place, things, moments, and experiences
which teach me
when I open myself to learning
what they strive to teach.

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I don't Know

August 25, 2023 Sharon Jacobson

I Don’t Know

There is nothing wrong with saying,
I don’t know.
There is so much I do not know.
I am not sure there is anything
I know everything about.
It's ok to say
I don’t know.
it gives us permission
to grow,
learn,
evolve and
encourage others to do the same
I don’t know
doesn’t mean I will never know.
It just means I do not know at this moment,
but I will go learn
and then I will share that information with you.
Then WE will know
and we will have grown together
That is one of the best parts of this life,
learning and growing and together going from
I don’t know
to we know.

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sons from the Darkness

December 9, 2022 Sharon Jacobson

Lessons from the Darkness

We all have those moments
where we feel overwhelmed,
scared,
frustrated,
and sometimes even angry.
We may feel like this is one of those
dark moments in our life.
I felt this way yesterday
and just wanted to cry, but then the lesson came
and reminded me this darkness
was a door,
a pathway to the next blessing and phase
in my life.
It was, and is, about to introduce me
to new people, places and things.
Was it as I or others planned? No.
But once I let the fear go,
and walked even closer with the one I trust,
I was reminded of the words from Psalm 23
Even though I walk through the darkest valley,[a]
    I fear no evil,
for you are with me;
    your rod and your staff,
    they comfort me.
The lessons I am and will learn
are already comforting me
in part because the Ultimate is with me
teaching me
even from the darkness.

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My Students

February 5, 2021 Sharon Jacobson

My Students

I always ask my students
how do you know what you know.
They talk about their parents and life
and a wide range of ways they learn things.
Yet one of the things I have most in common with them.
Is that we are all grateful for what we learned
and those who taught us.
However, we are both most grateful for
those who taught us how to think for ourselves.
They are not their parents
or their teachers,
or anyone else.
They are each unique and precious individuals
who come to the world with their own questions,
their own desires to learn
and their own ability to create information.
They teach me and each other.
We learn from
each other as well.
We become the teachers and the students
and realize that together
we create a body of knowledge,
greater then anything we have on our own.
My students teach me,
and help me to grow and evolve
as a human being.
My students don’t just learn from me.
They learn with me.
Then they take that knowledge
and teach others how to think for themselves.
This is what I love about teaching,
I get to be a part of a gift that keeps on giving.
I

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Learning

August 28, 2020 Sharon Jacobson

my brother tells me
I am a perpetual student.
I love learning.
Every moment,
every experience,
everything I do,
and every one I meet
s an opportunity to learn something new.
Learning for me,
is like being given a ring of keys
to the Universe.
I learn more about the Universe,
the people in it,
the way things work,
the way they do not,
the gifts we all bring to the table,
the way the Ultimate works
in the lives of others.
The more I learn,
the more I am able to teach others,
because my understanding
is deeper and broader.
The more I teach,
the more I learn.
My students teach me
what they are learning,
and it becomes like a meal
a potluck of wisdom and knowledge
we share with each other.
Learning opens my eyes,
my heart,
my soul,
my senses, and
my mind.
Perhaps it is this
ever sense of
evolving and transforming
which makes me love
learning.

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Teaching and Learning

August 9, 2020 Sharon Jacobson

teaching and learning
are not about what happens
in the classroom.
Teaching and learning
happens in every moment of life.
Everyone I have ever met
no matter for how long
has been a teacher.
Whether I allowed them to teach me or no
was about me.
They were sent to teach me.
Being a teacher has nothing to do with
age,
relationship
or lack there of.
I have learned from
the homeless,
the prostitute.
the professor,
the child,
the repairman
the trash man,
the stranger on the street.
The world is my university,
whether I attend and am open to learn or not
is about me.
I am also my own teacher.
The thoughts and feelings
which run through my head,
and bubble up from inside me
are lessons I choose to learn or not;
be taught or not.
Even this poem
as simple as it is,
is teaching me about teaching and learning

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Room for Improvement

May 1, 2020 Sharon Jacobson

No one knows me
the way the Ultimate knows me.
I would like to say
I know myself well,
but I don’t.

The Ultimate creates opportunities
for me to learn about me
in ways I may not always like.
I get to see that which I appreciate
and that which needs improvement.

I have friends who think
they know me, but in all honesty
they only know what they have been
allowed to see or experience.
They only see what I allow them to see,
or experience,
and the person I allow them to
get to know.

However, in my relationship
with the Ultimate I get to say
love me,
mold me,
transform me
and make me better
than I or anyone else
will ever know.

Help me become who
you created me to be.
Help me to become a
reflection of your love,
wisdom,
grace,
mercy,
compassion,
and all
you wish me to be.

I know there will always
b e room for improvement,
but for today I ask you
to help me grow,
and become a better me
then I was yesterday
and that tomorrow
you will bless me in the same manner
always creating
room for improvement
in my life.

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You Never Know

May 12, 2017 Sharon Jacobson

Sometimes you have a conversation that takes you back in time. Wednesday night, during the Spiritual Discussion on teaching and teachers, a participant talked to me about all I had taught her since she has met me. It was a truly humbling moment. She said there are times there are not words in my heart to express what I am feeling so I do not say anything. She said she thought there were others for whom this was true as well.

I am not sure why, but this brought me back to a powerful lesson one of my students taught me decades ago when I first started teaching. I had a student whose mother had intentionally enrolled in my class. Her mother was a faculty member at our college and said she knew if anyone could help her daughter pass a class it would be me. I was not able to do so. However, it was not for lack of my trying.

Kitty Lessons

May 5, 2017 Sharon Jacobson

Dear God,

So today I want to thank you for the lessons that Dr. Wally and Mr Mittens have tried to teach me. Some of them I have mastered more then others, but at least they have tried. So thank you for sending them into my life. So here goes.

Lesson #1 – Never be afraid to step outside your comfort zone. Mr Mittens has taught me to be willing to explore what is on the other side of my comfort zone. He always tries to get through the doors that are closed and when he senses it is not where he needs to be he leaves and if he really likes it, then he stays. He has taught me a similar message to what I am reading about now in Kyle Cease’s book I Hope I Screw This Up. It is the same message my Bubby used to tell me, “She who fails to fail, fails to succeed.”

Lesson #2 – Take a nap. Cats seem to do this so well. Whenever they are tired, they sleep, which with them is about 16 hours a day. Working at home, I have the luxury of taking a nap when I really need one. Sometimes it is the way for me to quiet my brain so I can hear your ideas and inspiration coming to me. Sometimes it is just that my brain and body need a break. Even you took a rest from creating, so I should too.

Listening Lessons

August 20, 2016 Sharon Jacobson

Dear God,

Honestly, sometimes it is so easy to see the meaning in what is happening, but sometimes life seems so busy it is hard to hear you speaking. So right now I am working on slowing down and being intentional about having the time to listen.

What I have learned is that taking the time to listen is like taking a pilgrimage to the Holy Land where I have to enter life and lean in and listen.

This past week I have been reminded that life is unpredictable. By listening to you and your guidance I have found what I needed to lift me up and been able to find new ways of thinking about things. Even what initially felt like the worst of situations became transformative and life giving because you challenged me to enter into the situation, sit with you, and grow.

I am Interesting!

September 20, 2013 Sharon Jacobson

Recently, a fellow blogger, Ariffa, nominated me for The Versatile Blogger award. It was not like it was one of those big deal awards. It was one of those ways of getting to know other bloggers and to allow other bloggers to get to know you. It was a simple process. You had to list fifteen bloggers that you follow with links to their websites (that was the easier part for me). Then you had to list seven things about you that were interesting. This is where I found myself being stuck. I realized as I stared at this blank screen that I did not think I, or my life, was interesting. The two things I wrote down were not things that I found interesting or thought other people would find interesting, but maybe different or unique. That was that I had six parents (birth, foster, and adoptive) and that I used to say I was part Vulcan as my left ear has a slight point to it. Neither of which seems to fit the definition of interesting, or so I thought. According to the dictionary interesting means, “arousing curiosity or interest; holding or catching the attention.” The only thing I could think of is that sometimes I am able to arouse the curiosity and interest of my students through the material I share with them in the classroom.

Slow down, I move too fast

November 10, 2012 Sharon Jacobson

If I had to give myself a song for this week, it would be slow down you move too fast by Simon and Garfunkel. Seriously, this is the lesson I needed to learn this week. Last Saturday, I was trying to do too much. I was breaking all my own rules and as a result did not pay attention to how I was putting the top on my new teapot. As a result, after putting the tea blend in the infuser basket and filling it with boiling water, my left hand plunged in because I had not put the top on properly. At the same time, our home was rapidly filling up with guests. So with a hand which was red, swollen and puffy, I graciously retreated to my office to keep ice on it, let the waves of pain move through my hand, the tears roll down my face, and work on meditating my way back to a place where I was controlling my pain and not vice versa. The process I was assisted by loving friends, of which one is an LPN, and my wife who kept people away from me while I calmed down and suggested I take a pain killer. Of course, I also did what I always do when I am in need of prayer; I posted on Facebook about how I had just burned the crap out of my hand and asked for prayer. LOL isn’t that what everyone does when they are in my situation.

To all my spiritual teachers

October 14, 2012 Sharon Jacobson

To all my spiritual teachers, Most of you are no longer living in this realm, however, some of you are. Some of you I have never met, others of you I have. Some of you have taught me through your writings, your lectures, and other things you have done to assist others and me in our journeys. You were walking in your calling as a teacher and sharing the wisdom of your life with people like me and for that I am grateful. A while back, in one of my earlier blogs, I made a list of 10 spiritual teachers in my life. They were:

Week 7, Day 3 – Work and Creativity

January 28, 2011 Sharon Jacobson

Hmm. me be creative in the work place. Lol. You know I really didn’t think I was all that creative until recently when I realized that my just being me is pretty creative. For example, my whole approach to teaching has developed in response to the complaints of my students. It was not grounded in any theories of adult education or learning. It was all about me responding to my “customers” and their complaints. I just saw it as doing good “customer service.” so I started by giving people choices about when to turn assignments in, then it was how much an assignment wa worthy, then it became pick what you want to do, how much it is worth and when you want to turn it in. now, I get the opposite complaint that I give too many choices. So maybe next semester, I will add the option of your standardized homework package. One that I design with fixed dates, percentages, etc. and I love that. I love the creativity and the free flowing nature of my courses and how they are never the same course twice.

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