Teaching to Inspire
So, let me intro with a quick story. I have a student…a student who asks many many questions. Maybe you have one or two as well. Just the other day, we had a full lesson to work through and if we stayed on task we would surely finish in just the knick of time. Now, I’ve been teaching long enough to know that sometimes it’s ok not to finish as planned, or to take a student led detour- I fully support those things. We were moving along smoothly, and the questions from my beloved student continued. But without negative intention, I responded with a “Oh the questions” and a smile on my face. You know when sometimes something comes out of your mouth and you truly meant no ill intent. Well, there it was- a look on his face that told me he felt I disapproved of his inquisitive learning style (which was SO far from the truth). I felt bad, thought about it all night and couldn’t wait try and fix my mistake. When the situation presented itself, and we were in almost the same scenario (me teaching, him asking lots of questions) I was eager to respond intentional! I said to him something along the lines of, “I know you are going to grow up and do amazing things because you are excited to learn and figure out how things work” then I listed off a few cool careers I envisioned him at 🙂 Wow, the moment that followed was simple and beautiful- he LIT up. A huge smile and you could see the joy across his face.
Which brings me to the title of this post… teaching with the mindset of “What If?”
What if YOU responded with a genuine intentional one liner to inspire?
What if YOU are teaching the next Mark Zuckerberg? Or President? Or…?
What if YOU are the only encouragement that child will receive that day because they are a handful everywhere else?
What if YOU can prevent that meltdown because you reacted with compassion and sought out alternative solutions?
So as you embark on adventures in your classroom, in life or wherever else you may go- keep in mind the power you hold to influence those around you. In 10-20 years they may still remember that one-liner!
