This is stealing paychecks

I'm tired of it.

If a teacher can't or won't develop rapport with his students, he's not teaching. And he's stealing his paycheck. We all know one like this. Maybe you had one. And there are mean women out there who think they're doing the world a favor by turning their classrooms into gulags. Nobody wins on this one. ( I saw a picture of this woman math teacher once on the cover of an educational journal. She was sort of a cross between Rod Stewart and a female wrestler on steroids. Yikes. And she had this pasty-faced perma-growl stuck on her face. Is there a law against smiling! Cripes.) In addition, many of these teachers want to turn these little ones into little Miss Duplicates, never thinking kids are uniquely designed for a purpose.

Everyone knows that kids need structure and discipline to thrive. Nobody is denying that things can unravel quickly if expectations aren't laid out. But if you're a teacher who went into the profession only because you "..love the content", do us all a favor and quit.

You have to have the ability, or possess the desire to acquire the ability to interact successfully with your students. It's your software. Find it, please.

21st Century Success

In Tough Choices or Tough Times, the report of the new commision on the skills of the American workforce, it is stated that the difference between those 21st century workers who will meet with success and those that meet with failure comes down to something everybody should wrap their arms around. I think everybody should wrap their arms around them...now.

Here's what it all spells...the successful workers of the 21st century need creativity and innovation, the facility of the use of ideas and abstractions, the self-discipline and organization to manage one's own work and drive it through to a successful conclusion, and the ability to function well as a member of a team.

Parents, ask yourselves if your son or daughter is getting enough of this training. Teachers, ask yourselves if you're providing these opportunities in your school. Administrators and bureaucrats, are you too busy lowering the standardized testing benchmarks so it appears that students are getting smarter?

Students, don't sit around and wait to be told what to do. The problem with waiting to be told what to do is that too many people are willing to oblige you. There is no shortage of people who are more than willing to take charge of your life. Find opportunities to develop the qualities that will make others take note of you. Ask your parents or find a trusted teacher or counselor to help you!

Uncork the Imagination

I love teaching.

Although, I have an expired interest in teaching what I call "school math". I am, however, always maintained by my fascination for capital M Mathematics and all of its flavors of phenomenal beauty, magic, and wonder. For me it's like looking at the Milky Way, the grand design and backbone of Mother Night.

But I could do without the "school math", and its accomplices.

What saves me are the kids themselves: a sundry gathering of delightful creatures not yet stained with spills from the cups of adulthood. God bless these people-like beings. They created me.

I was thinking the other day if there was one thing I could show them, just one thing, it wouldn't be the distributive property, or how to perform better on the SAT. What could possibly be better than that? I'll tell you.

Belief. That's what.

So for all you middle schoolers out there, let me tell you something. In the many cases of the people who made a difference in our world, the many talented contributors, did you know that often their belief in themselves emerged before any outward sign of talent? That's right. Maintaining a belief that you can do something, or be something, or have something will often precede any characteristic you may have that would allow you to acquire it, like a learned skill or even a "God given" talent. Maybe what we're really born with is the ability to change our beliefs, to create our own prophecy to fulfill.

It's not enough to just accept this. You need to be shown how to believe or how to change a limiting belief about yourself. I will do this in later posts.

In the meantime, you have permission from Mr. Powell to daydream, and to stare out the window. And contrary to what you hear from most teachers, I think daydreaming is underrated. So uncork that imagination. Untie it, and let it drift away from its moorings.