a image from Carly Alyssa Thorne.com
Recently I had the opportunity to read First Days of School: How to be an effective teacher by Harry and Rosemary Wong. The name is a bit misleading since what is offered in the book are anecdotes for an entire career in changing the world. It is how we approach what we do and how we prepare ourselves to impact others. This is really what can be found within the pages.
If I think back at my educational journey that continues still today, I have been taught by many individuals. Some of these lessons where at formal settings such as at a face to face exchange or online class, and others at community gathering or a business opportunity. Each day we have an opportunity to seize that moment to open our mind and take in what others willingly give away. Many times the lessons that truly will impact us are not found within the the text of a book or the classroom interactions. It is mostly through the underlying values that true teaching is conducted. It is about those educators who are not focused on the individual lesson, or moment, but rather about how they would like you to look at the way you conduct yourself. It is seen throughout the actions you do when you interact with others in your immediate surrounding and the way you may impact those who you may not even know about.
Master educators are able to impact what you do far beyond that specific time period you spent in their midst. Think about how you have been able to do things that have had an impact much larger than you thought of when you initially set out to do it. How was this ripple effect? Did someone impact you? How did you pay it forward?
The video below has only been uploaded to YouTube 5 days ago and has already has almost 5.5 million views. There are many lessons to take away from this 3 minute clip made in Thailand. Educational lessons can be conveyed even without words.
