Tag: Teachers

Should we do what we do as if our life depends on it?

iWork for iCloud Beta screenshot
Apple is better than anyone at making things – “it just works”.

 

Do we know what we do best? No, really, do we know deep down what lights our fire?

Watching this Ken Robinson TED talk, it hit me less than half way into his topic (education). The educational system is only as good as the teachers.

(Duh. But alas, knowing and doing are two polar opposites. And therein lies opportunity)

And the best teachers are not there to deliver content only, the best teachers:

  • stimulate, provoke, challenge
  • ask, facilitate, inspire
  • incite, encourage, excite

And what I’m adding, is that they teach as though their life depended on it.

Next Blog

 

Know what she said?

Know what she said?

Yesterday I heard one of our school’s middle-aged, elementary school teachers, with 35 years teaching experience, soliciting our parental feedback to make next year’s annual elementary, overnight camping trip more successful.

And in the process, she revealed two concepts I had to write down, because I thought they were profound. Now I’m sharing them with you.

First, she talked about the “Scared Privilege” it is to be a school teacher. And you could really feel her passion and sincerity.

It made me wonder what some of my sacred privileges are. Immediately, I had a decent list. Here are a few:

Being alive at Mid Life.

Being the parent of a student.

Being married.

Having good health and a roof over my head.

You know what it made me think?

It made me think. “Virtually everything we have is a sacred privilege”.

Secondly, she talked about her simple process for using any advice we give.

“Tweak it or toss it“!

What she meant was if something isn’t working too well, tweak it. If it doesn’t make it better, toss it.

It made me wonder how long I hold onto something that doesn’t work, without even trying to tweak it.

So today, I promise to relish my scared privileges and tweak the way I find time to be in the moment of our Mid-Life Celebration.

Make it a sacred day, because if you don’t, who will? Carpe diem, jeff 🙂