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excerpt from my paper

(25 Nov 2006 12:14)

I'm finishing a paper on my educational philosophy and thought that this section would make a good stand alone blog entry. I really believe strongly that the skills and attitudes that will be needed in the future will be those I have always admired in the kind of person I refer to here, who may or may not have the traditional formal educational background, but who has cultivated their mind and become a fascinating lifelong learner, who is not content to come home and soporifically turn on the tv and be a passive consumer of mindless drivel but who is always thinking, always learning something new and has that vibrant spark of life in their soul. This is the kind of person who is a joy to be with and who will be able to fully live in this future world we are creating. An open mind, a facility with knowledge and the curiousity to explore rather than closing one's mind and holding back others out of fear and lack of vision.

"My educational philosophy has developed over many years and had numerous influences. With each opportunity to learn more, I have tried to be open to new suggestions while always evaluating them in the light of what I have already learned and found to be useful in my past experiences as a teacher, scout leader and parent. As a result, I am a teacher who believes that students and teachers should be active collaborators in the learning process, and who understands that the diverse nature of our students requires the understanding that there are many pathways to learning and that different approaches work better with different students. I believe that the future we are sending them into will require a very different set of skills than the one we were trained for. I truly believe that the path my life has taken has allowed me to come back to teaching with the kind of broad perspective that will make me well suited to preparing our students for the 21st century challenges.

The adults of the future will need to be able to utilize a wide variety of resources, both known and yet unknown to continually adapt to new ways of living, working and relaxing. I have always admired those people most who cultivated active open minds. They have always been the best educated, most interesting people to work and be with, and this has been a quality that was not directly correlated with whether they had degrees but with their attitudes. The ability to adapt, to constantly seek out and assimilate new information and skills, to make a life that goes beyond mere passive receptivity to whatever comes along, to instead be vibrantly involved in life and contributing to the world they live in, this is what I hope for my students. As a public school teacher, I have a vested interest in doing my part to ensure that the education I help my students get provides all of the best of the basic skills that are still necessary while ensuring that the system I work in remains relevant and prepares them for the new kinds of learning they will need to do throughout their lives."

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Competitive Greatness--- second in a series of blogs inspired by Wooden.

(03 Nov 2006 22:33)

What is competitive greatness? It�s being at your best when your best is needed. It�s enjoying the challenge when things become difficult, even very difficult.
True competitors know it�s exhilarating to be involved in something that is very challenging. They don�t fear it. They seek it. Is it fun to do something that is ordinary, easy, simple, something anyone can do? Not at all.
Yet most of the tasks we do in our everyday lives are very simple. Anybody could do them. They will not produce the joy that comes from being involved in something that challenges your body, mind and spirit.
Competitors love that challenge. They know if offers the chance to produce their very finest. It brings forth their competitive greatness.

from: Wooden: A lifetime of observations and reflections on and off the court. by Coach John Wooden with Steve Jamison [ link ]

There�s a deep satisfaction in accomplishment, in knowing you�ve given yourself fully to a task that challenged your skills and pushed you to grow past previous limits. To take on something difficult and accomplish your goal or at the very least to be able to look at what you did accomplish and take pride in knowing that you have done better than you ever did before.

If you only know me from my opinionated writings here, it can be hard to believe just how shy and afraid to try new things I really can be, but once I get past the fear of failure, I do tend to throw myself fully into doing whatever I have set out to do to the utmost of my ability. It�s the blessing and curse of being such a passionate driven perfectionist. Although I do not believe any superstitions, some of the descriptions of my Chinese Zodiac animal, the Tiger certainly describe me very well here.

One of the things that touched me most in reading Wooden�s book was how strongly he felt about achievement being self referenced�the measure of how well a team or an individual player did was not to be judged in comparison to another team or player, but by asking if they had done their utmost to prepare themselves and given their best effort. A star player with an overabundance of natural ability was not necessarily more to be admired or praised than a lesser player who gave it his all. He was as proud of those players who reached what was for them, their personal best and became great people who were teachers, doctors and businessmen as he was of ones who became famous pros. The responsibility for success or the blame for failure does not lie outside of us in what other people do or do not do, but is in our hands. Remember, his definition of success does not mean always winning the game. Lack of sufficient effort and preparation can make it my fault if I lose. But if I have given my best at being as prepared and tried my hardest, it doesn�t matter whether I win the game or make a pile of money. I am not merely making excuses or blaming others for my shortcomings. The greatness comes from within. I am a winner, because I have achieved my own competitive greatness. I have earned pride and respect for being the best I could be. Those who counted on me, whether it be a sports team, coworkers or a romantic partner know that I did not let them down. I gave my best. His genius as a teacher and a leader was in instilling this understanding in his players. As I read his words, I reflected once more, on the pride I feel in myself and in those I admire when I see competitive greatness at work.

�Shoot for the moon and if you miss you will still be among the stars.�
Les Brown

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but so worth it : first in a series of blogs inspired by Wooden

(01 Nov 2006 22:21)

People usually know what they should do to get what they want. They just won't do it. They won't pay the price. Understand that there is a price to be paid for achieveing anything of significance. You must be willing to pay the price......
The individual who is mistake free is also probably sitting around doing nothing. And that is a big mistake.
John Wooden.

I�ve come across so many motivational/inspirational books that motivate me to want to break and throw things. So often the definition of success involves becoming the kind of person I most despise; for whom the amount of money earned is the measure of success. Business and sports people are forever doing this and they seem to be the ones writing most of the books. With this so often goes the attitude that all kinds of rotten behavior is absolutely necessary and even to be cultivated in order to become the kind of success they want you to be. I could list so many examples of this but one that always really gets to me is the way Dale Earnhardt was idolized. The man�s claim to fame was that he won races by bashing the other cars out of his way. C�mon how fair is that? Can you really be proud and say you�re the best when you�re not winning because you�re the fastest but because you�ll do anything to win? Not even dying by the same method he used on others changed these people�s minds.
But anyway, I actually read a book by a sports figure that had me wanting to stand up and cheer and say YESS YESS This is what I mean. This is what I have been trying to say, this is how I think things should be. I found myself copying pages and pages of quotes longhand and finally decided I�d better get myself a copy of the book. This is going to take a lot of blog entries to talk about all of the ideas I had as I read what he had to say about life, about setting and following your goals in life, about what the true definition of success is and what truly makes a person great.
I value what one gives of oneself, how one uses the talents they have and how truly one learns to be who they are meant to be regardless of the opinions of society. Life shouldn�t be about giving up on dreams and settling for an unhappy existence just because of choices made long ago. A gifted artist should measure success not by the amount of fame or money they get but by how much they were able to use their talent, what they were able to create and how much of their unique gift they were able to share with the world. Being true to oneself matters a lot to me. Being the best �you� you can be is what each of us needs to be. Love matters. More than anything else in the world. What moments I can spend with the one I love, whatever I can give of myself� that is the most precious valuable beautiful thing of all. The synergy that comes from creative minds set free in an atmosphere of love and openness is an incredible gift that needs to be nurtured. Success is not acquiring money and things, it is getting to the end of each day, the end of a life and knowing that you gave the best you had, made the most of your talents, became the best you you could be and loved the ones you loved more deeply than you ever thought possible and left them and the world a much better, happier place because of it.

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November 2006

more quotes

today's thought

I liked this very much

excerpt from my paper

tired

Competitive Greatness--- second in a series of blogs inspired by Wooden.

fun!

but so worth it : first in a series of blogs inspired by Wooden


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