Why is it called a bus?

Why is it called a bus?

Good question! I had no idea and could give no answer. A quick look at wikipedia, and we learned that the word ‘bus’ is the shortened form of the Latin word ‘omnibus‘.

One etymology (the study of the origin of words) holds that “omnibus” is derived from a hatter’s shop which was situated in front of one of the first bus stations in Nantes, France in 1823. “Omnes Omnibus” was a pun on the Latin sounding name of that hatter Omnès: omnes meaning “all” and omnibus means “for all” in Latin. Nantes citizens soon gave the nickname of Omnibus to the vehicle.

When motorised transport started replacing horse-drawn transport in 1905, a motorized omnibus was called an autobus, a term still used today. Wikipedia

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Messages That Matter

About a week ago I found sparkyteaching.com I can’t remember exactly how it happened, but I ended up looking at their Messages that Matter. These resources are truly inspirational. At first I was taken with poster #2, ‘Learn what counts’ and then saw #10, ‘Live Curiously’ and it felt like someone had put these together just for me! That feeling didn’t stop there – on their blog post ‘The Lost Art of Nurturing Sparks‘ (read it, it’s fab) I also found the same Picasso quote that hung on my classroom wall for years! Click here to read more on that one…

The Messages that Matter are all beautifully designed, wonderful pieces of encouragement and truth that should feature in every classroom and home. Maybe a bus stop campaign?! Each message encourages you to live the best life you can and do the best for every student (person!) you meet. It has certainly encouraged me to think about the ways in which we speak to each other as educators, students, parents and children alike.

 Messages That Matter

It’s about seeing the little people who sit in front of us every day as individual characters not numbers or levels, recognising their sparks

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Every kid needs a champion

Every kid needs a champion

I’d heard about Rita Pierson’s TED Talk, but I had never listened to it. I decided to watch it this morning and I am so glad I did. Rita reminds you in such a beautiful way that we all need relationships, and you may never know just how much that kid in your class needs you. Be their champion, they may not have another one.

I once taught a memorable class with a wonderful colleague and friend. The kids were hand picked for  us (they hadn’t chosen to study music) and we were to teach them.  We thought of a whole course for them, worked on it, sat them down, explained what we aimed to do, thought we were off to a promising start, asked if anyone had any questions and one student asked, “How am I here?” It was a good question, one we had not anticipated! Telling them they hadn’t been welcome anywhere else was not the answer, and so we stumbled around and came up with a few reasons. I don’t remember exactly, but I know it wasn’t as inspiring as Rita Pierson’s response to her class!

I told all my students, “You were chosen to be

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Being Human

Being Human

I was looking for a podcast to listen to on a run last night. Being a fan of the Jeremy Vine show on Radio 2 I searched and found a series of podcasts by Jeremy Vine called Being Human. With contributions from leading thinkers and writers these podcasts explore just what makes us human. I listened to the episode featuring Lord David Puttnam, a British film producer and educator.

Being human is remaining curious about the world, and remaining ambitious for what your contribution can be. (Lord Puttnam)

He spoke of the 2012 Olympics and how people collectively worked to make a success of the Games – the Games brought out the best in us, but it was always there! If you smile at someone, they generally smile back. We are all capable of doing the very best we can. We should never lose sight of this. Lord Puttnam and Jeremy Vine end the episode discussing the importance of focussing on doing the right thing and building each other up. This reminded me of a quote I once read:

Be kind whenever possible. It is always possible. (Dalai Lama)

This episode was a great encouragement and reminder that … Read more...