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.