Tag Archives: Dreams

Trajectory

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Change direction

TRAJECTORY  is , “a chosen or taken course”, and I think about the people in my life that have often inspired me to change my trajectory for the positive.  There are times, that my trajectory has changed for a positive in spite of people, and sometimes it has changed for a negative.  I am sure that I have impacted people in a negative way in the past, and I am trying to focus on helping others reach something that they didn’t think that they could possibly attain before.  Like most teachers/leaders, I want to make a difference.  Every action, interaction, and reaction you have with someone is an opportunity to change their path; I want them to move up because of me, not in spite of our interaction.  There will always be many choices in front of us.  Which path is for me at this point, I am not sure.

Sweden…NO CLASSROOMS

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There’s a whole new classroom model and it’s a sight to behold. The newest school system in Sweden look more like the hallways of Google or Pixar and less like a brick-and-mortar school you’d typically see.

There are collaboration zones, houses-within-houses, and a slew of other features that are designed to foster “curiosity and creativity.”

The un-schoolness doesn’t stop with the furniture and layout though. The school has no letter grades, students learn in groups based on their level and not age.

Most of all, admission to the school is free as long as one of the child’s parents pays taxes in Sweden and the child has a ‘personal number’ which is like a social security number to our U.S. readers.

More on this can be found in the book INNOVATE.

What Are You Pursuing?

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I recently listen to a speaker talk on Pursuing the Prize.  He gave 6 key steps to Pursuing the Prize listed below.

1.  Pursue a better condition – one can not seek or find the purpose/vision if the condition/environment is not postive and conducive to learning/growing.  One needs to surround themselves with people they trust.  When you find that “better condition,” you create a community of connected educators.

2.  Pursue with maxium effort – Seek and risk-take…put your all into the goal/vision.  It takes as much effort to “half do” something as it does to give 100%.  Half full or half empty?

3.  Focused Concentration – “Fix Your Eyes” on the goal… the goal is the key.  What are the step needed to reach the goal.  How will you get there?  Who will help you?  Do you need buy in?  Can you state the purpose and reason for the goal?

4.  Know what your motivation is (why are you doing this, what is the purpose?) –  Motivation must come from within…this is healthy.  Knowing the purpose and cause will make the goal easier to keep the focus. 

5.  You can’t do it alone – Surround yourself with positive people.  You need a community of like-believers and support.

6.  Stay the course – Don’t give up!

What are you PURSUING?

“The Purpose of Education is to Turn Mirrors into Windows.”

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The purpose of education . . . .  

Is to see the light of opportunity through the window of your education, turning what once may have been uncertainty into a certainty.  Education helps us to become better and more efficient with the things we do.     Instead of only seeing yourself in life – mirrors – you are educated and shown that there is a whole world out there full of other people – windows.   A window is an open opportunity, a mirror is just an image.  Education opens many opportunities.   If you make the mirror into a window you can look and see the world and open your mind to all the vast knowledge that is out there.

Wishing and Dreaming

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“If you dream it, you can do it” ~Walt Disney  If you had one wish for education, what would it be?  We need dreams based not on what is but on what might be.  We need students who can learn how to learn, who can discover how to push themselves and are generous enough and honest enough to engage with the outside world to make those dreams happen.  I think our wishes and dreams change based on how we grow up, what we’re taught, whom we hang out with, and what our parents do.  There is nothing wrong with DREAMING BIG.   “What are you (we) doing to fuel students’ dreams?”  Dreams flicker long before they shine brightly….keep them flickering!  Who knows what this generation of students will do in the near future.