Cogs and innovators
It’s all about attitude. The way a teacher greets her students when they walk in the classroom. The way she responds to their questions. The way she interacts with them both in a learning and social setting. When a student says that it isn’t possible to observe this exact moment, arguing that since the light has to travel to the...
Are you replaceable or indispensable?
If there was a map, everyone would find it. If there were detailed step-by-step instructions, everyone could do it. If it was easy, everyone would do it. But what if there is no map? No detailed step-by-step instructions. And it’s going to be difficult. Would you still do it? Would you still put in the hard work not knowing what...
Emotional labor
School field day. Dentist appointments. Mother in law’s birthday. Dirty socks in the hallway. There’s hardly any milk left in the fridge. Flowers for the teacher on graduation day. The list goes on and on. There’s no end to it. Next day it just starts all over again and the things you didn’t do the day before add to your...
Are you in it for the long haul?
Are you always looking for ways to improve? Are you willing to take some discomfort today with the prospect of doing better in the future? Are you willing to help someone without expecting anything in return? Or are you trying to cut corners every day, thinking that it’s the only way forward? Always taking the easy way out might seem...
When are you going to show up?
When are you going to show up? When are you going to face the potential in you? When are you going to step up and say “Hey, I made this”. It’s not going to be easy. It’ll be scary and on several occasions you’ll be asking yourself why you’re doing this. But it’ll be worth it, because you’ll have built...
What’s essential to you?
We run through life trying to do everything, please everyone, be everywhere. At the end of the day, we fall asleep before we hit the pillow, or we have trouble sleeping. The alarm shrieks early in the morning and we’re off to the races again. And around, around it goes. Did you ever stop to think about what it’s for?...
Getting out of bed for you
Getting out of bed every morning is never easy. As the alarm sounds, you’d much rather hit the snooze button. Those warm sheets are way too comfortable to give up just like that. So you turn over and go back to sleep. At that moment, it seemed like the only thing to do. What if instead, you decide that hitting...
School needs to change
Humans want to learn new things. We are curious and innovative by nature. We thrive when we learn new things. Today’s school system, regrettably, is killing that curiosity and replacing it with force-fed facts that are completely useless. When are we going to start the difficult, but necessary, work of changing our schools? Why do we teach so differently in...