Browsing CategoryAttitude

With so much focus on self-esteem we know that self-esteem is very important. Clearly though our approach to self-esteem missed the mark (See Simon Sinek’s famous talk on Millenials).  By praising people for doing things that are not praise worthy and exaggerating the importance of those actions we have fostered a generation with lower, rather than higher, self-esteem. True self-esteem is knowing exactly who you are, your gifts, strengths and weaknesses.  In the post on Awe I left you with this question, “What is amazing about you?”.  Self-esteem is what gives a person the strength to do the right thing …

And The Award Goes To… You work so hard at parenting/teaching/treating.  Wouldn’t it be nice to be recognized? So who does get “Teacher of The Year” and what’s the lesson for us? Perhaps it goes to the teacher who feeds hungry students?  Certainly there are award winning teachers who are acknowledged for doing so.  Then again, if that is what makes students excel academically and teachers get awards, then with the advent of school breakfast and lunch programs academic performance should be on the rise.  Instead, our scores are decreasing and obesity is on the rise.  There is also the …

Teaching is about accomplishment, particularly academic accomplishment.  Education is about process and an understanding that we may be planting seeds for a process that may not sprout for years.  I have a fairly nice garden that I enjoy puttering around in very much.  For those of you who do not garden it might surprise you to learn that flower bulbs are planted in the fall for flowers such as hyacinths and tulips or even gladiolas which will only bloom the following year.  Fruit trees generally do not fruit for a few years (as fruit does not grow off the trunk …

 It might seem strange to say that to teachers who spend years learning how to be one.  This is where education was first hijacked by a too narrow perspective. One of the most important ideas I learned from neurolinguistics programming (NLP) is how to find a good teacher.    Their definition of a good teacher is someone who not only can do the task well, but also knows HOW they do it. Obviously only someone who knows how to do a task can be considered to teach the skill to others.  If I want someone to teach me how to …