Reflections

by Jan Shoop

About a week ago at the StarShine 100^th Monkey Breakfast, I was talking with a very wise man named Jack Ring. Jack has been a major supporter of the Starshine Schools (www.starshineacademy.org) and mentor to Trish McCarty, founder of the schools. He is a systemist, strategist and innovation specialist who has worked for GE Aeospace, Honeywell Computer Systems, IBM Consulting Group and Ascent Logic Corporation. Jack is currently the Cofounder of OntoPilot LLC, Senior Analyst for Cyon Research Corporation, Cofounder of Kennen Technologies LLC, Co-founder of Educe LLC and owner of Innovation Management.

Jack explained that he had been reading and enjoying our blog and suggested that instead of just posting affirmations on Thursdays that we also post reflections. Jack thought the reflections could come from teachers, students or parents on the topics of educational philosophy and schools, including stories, thoughts and inspiration.

I thought his idea was wonderful and so I decided to look affirmation and reflection up in the dictionary to see how the two contrasted and compared. This is what I found according to www.oxforddictionaries.com:

Affirmation: (noun)

1.      the action or process of affirming something or being affirmed

2. emotional support or encouragement

Reflection: (noun)

1.       the throwing back by a body or surface of light, heat, or sound without absorbing it

an amount of light, heat, or sound that is thrown back in such a way

an image seen in a mirror or shiny surface

a thing that is a consequence of or arises from something else

 [in singular] a thing bringing discredit to someone or something

Mathematics - the conceptual operation of inverting a system or event with respect to a plane, each element being transferred perpendicularly through the plane to a point the same distance the other side of it.

2.      serious thought or consideration

an idea about something, especially one that is written down or expressed

We will continue to post Thursday’s affirmations with a few reflections of our own, but we’d love to hear from you. Tell us about your affirmations and reflections. Tell us about your thoughts, inspirations and concerns regarding education and schools; whether you are a parent, teacher, student or just someone with an interest in our blog. You can post your reflections in the comments section of our blog, email it directly to us at jan@kidswithoutstuff.com or lois@kidswithoutstuff.com.
We look forward to hearing from you!