Feb 08 2009
The One Thing
If you are a teacher, and you have not already viewed the TED talk by Sir Ken Robinson, then STOP! You obviously have time to kill because you’re here. Stop reading my silly blog and watch it now!
Wasn’t that awesome! I first saw this video last fall in my Principles of College Teaching class, although it’s been out for a couple of years; wish I’d seen it sooner. I think it’s brilliant!
I’m currently reading “The Rhythm of Life: Living Every Day with Passion & Purpose” by Matthew Kelly. He writes:
We don’t produce broadly educated, well-rounded leaders for tomorrow. We teach more and more about less and less. We don’t draw out the individual. We impose upon the individual – systems and structures. We don’t reverence individuality, we don’t treasure it, we stifle it and try to stamp it out. We don’t educate, we formulate. We abandon the individual in his or her own need and uniqueness and “impose” the same upon all…
Truth be told, our modern education systems crush the very spirit they claim to instill.
When I reflect on my own teaching and philosophy, I wonder if I am ever guilty of the indictments of these gentlemen. After all, I am a computer technology teacher, and the field of Computer Science is chock full of specialists. Do I ever “crush the very spirit I hope to instill“?
I believe that often times teacher themselves suffer from the same mentality. Certain ways of teaching are preferred over others. For example, the lecture has taken a beating in recent years in favor of “active learning”. But Ken Robinson gives us a spellbinding 20 minute lecture. The point is, we should encourage the strengths of our students and we should also be teaching with our own personal strengths.
Albert Einstein said, “Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.”
How many of our students leave our classes thinking they are stupid because what we are teaching doesn’t resonate with them? While we should never accept a lack of effort, perhaps we might do well in accepting that some of our students will never excel in our subject. One thing I struggle with when I recognize that I have a “tree climbing fish” in my class is how to be patient and continue to encourage.
Matthew Kelly also writes:
I believe that we are all capable of doing one thing better than any other person alive at this time in history. What is your one thing?
Oh my gosh! I’ve heard this before! And when I heard it, I thought “yeah, whatever“. In the film, City Slickers, Mitch, played by Billy Crystal, is on a cattle drive trying to sort things out and make some sense of his life. The trail boss Curly, played by Jack Palance, says that middle aged men often come out around the same age, trying to understand.
You city folk! You spend 50 weeks a year getting knots in your rope… then you think two weeks up here will straighten it out.
Here is Matthew Kelly’s idea expressed in Curly’s simple, cowboy way that I’ve heard before but never paid much attention to:
Previously, I posed the question “The quality of my life is determined by the quality of my _____ ?” referring to the Jim Fay statement that “Quality of life is determined by quality of decisions.” Most of the replies I received dealt with some aspect of this idea, whether it was relationships, family, friends, thoughts, or so forth. Ultimately, it all comes down to how we decide to approach these areas of life.
But how do we make good decisions?!?
Kelly suggests that if we know our one thing, the thing that helps us to become the “best version of yourself” then every decision should be centered around whether or not it will help us to do the one thing we were created to do!
I believe if we want to be truly amazing educators, then a number one priority ought to be helping our students discover their “one thing.” And we ought to know our own personal “one thing” and strive to use it each and every day we step into the classroom!
5 responses so far
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We all are happier, motivated, fulfilled, etc… when we know what our purpose is and are able to work to achieve that purpose. The children in our schools are no different. It is amazing to me when I have conversations with the students in my school and learn that they have no goal to reach for. Without a goal they have nothing to gauge progress towards. Peter Senge has termed this as “creative tension.”
Its not necessarily the goal that is even the most important thing as much as what the goal does to move someone away from their current state of reality. People that have goals know where they are attempting to go in life and are working to make progress on a regular basis. They are able to see how they have changed over time, even if they never totally achieved their goal they know they have changed.
People without goals do not know where they are going and thus they are just window shopping through life and landing where ever. They are less able to see how or if they have made progress towards anything because they don’t know what they are attempting to achieve.
I love the way that you have framed your central question here. I think my one thing is “choices.” If I can instill in my students that they have choices, I feel that I can offer them the world. In the small community where I teach, many of my students don’t realize that they have choices about who they can be! Thanks for the though provoking post!
My one thing (I think) is creativity. Being creative in the classroom, at home, and everywhere else possible. When I’m forced into situations that do not permit creativity and original thought, I’m not a very happy dude.
In the past, my dad placed life’s value on what you could accomplish or provide for you and your family. Including how much money you could make. My dad died 10 years ago today and I remember him giving me an accounting of his life and it was all about what he did or created and that he was leaving my mother with financial stabilitity. My mother and myself, chose to raise a family instead of pursue a career or leave a creative legacy. I don’t think I will be judged at the pearly gates as lacking in creativity and turned away. I may be turned away for being inattentive to the needs of my fellowman but not for being uncreative. Some of today’s youth do have a goal, unfortunately it is based on how much they can keep from doing and how they get out of doing anything that requires listening and applying their minds. I envy the high school students who know what they want to pursue in life and can immerse themselves in the process of becoming who they know they want to be. So, Bill, keep trying to help those students find their ‘one thing’.
Carolyn,
I think being a mother is the highest calling. We are sacrificing potential income so kids have a stay at home mom; it’s that important to us. And I’ve seen the creative mothering my wife does. You can’t convince me that it’s not a creative job.
Too many families are too focused on chasing the almighty dollar. I think that’s part of the problem you describe. Who is challenging them at home when the teacher’s not around?
Speaking of which… I gotta go. My kid’s calling me!