"Aspire to inspire before you expire"
Through my years at school, my teachers had a great impact in my life. Mr. Boler my science teacher in grade 6, my first year at my new school, taught me not to be afraid of new information and to accept my imagination to flow and discover. Ms. Hunter my 7th grade English teacher was the first teacher to introduce me to books that were not girlish for my taste and since then I am a reader. Mr. Martin my social studies teacher in grade 8 was the funniest man alive, I learned that it is OK to make your students laugh and not to always be serious in class. In grades 9 and 10 Ms. Craig who taught an integrated course between history and English helped me discover my talent in writing poetry and my love for English. Through my IB years, all my teachers played an impact in my life in their own way. Through all those teachers' help, I am the person, the teacher and the educator whom I am today.
I have always wanted to make a difference in the world but being known and noted was not of any interest to me. Just as I was inspired through my youth it was my turn to inspire back. My aspiration to inspire became vivid when I found my calling for teaching. My classroom became my world to change. Every 6 weeks I have new students, thus those 6 weeks are my door to inspire. The idea of inspiration is not for the students to remember your name at the end or call you their favorite teacher, but to leave them with questions, thoughts, ideas that they may not have been exposed to before. I always leave myself time through the course to talk to them about poetry, books that have inspired me, controversial topics to get them formulate their own thoughts about it.
some of these topics, books, poems include:
Last lecture by Randy Paush
What is Freedom?
Quotes by Nelson Mandela
Gandhi
Mother Theresa
The road not taken by Robert Frost
and any inspiration book, quote or video I come across. I do not follow a pattern because each class is different and each day is a new day to be inspired and inspire in return.
I personally do not believe in coincidences, I believe that each person you meet along your way is meant to teach you something, thus I not only teach my students but learn from them too.
My dear friends,
I may walk one day and never come back
the world has many opportunities to be seized
do not hinder yourself with obstacles
but consider them tools to shape
allow yourself to learn
to love
to dream
take every step with confidence
knowing inside you there is a giant
be happy
shine around you
and above all
ENJOY!
Thank you for this inspirational post. I read it the day you posted it and thought I commented on it, but I did not. Sorry for that. It is clear to me that your mind is churning and that you are enjoying the opportunity to share in your blog. Thanks for sharing what has inspired you. Do you think that the authors you mentioned ever imagined that they would be an inspiration to millions of individuals around the world? Could they have ever imagined the strength that people draw from them?
ReplyDeleteI believe those people did what they thought was right regardless if they would get famous or not. I think in that is the source of power because you would not be really displaying this radiant inspiration if it was fake for publicity. those people did it from all their heart and soul, they believed it, they lived it. their actions were louder than their words. this is where i believe their power was drawn from. I also believe that for them it became a habit when they did it for so long, it just seemed the right thing to do which gave them even more strength and they started to get famous even before they passed away. Thus, i took it a motto for my life to leave something behind, maybe you would not remember my name, but my actions would be remembered. Those who seek that their names be known often times they got forgotten the fastest (not referring to infamous people who will be remembered forever), but as a general rule of thumb.
DeleteVery interesting! I totally agree with your motto!
ReplyDeletethose are great teachers you mentioned. The effect the infused in you and how you never forget it is just interesting to read. The slogan/motto is definitely a great motivation for great minds like yours and for everyone.
ReplyDeleteI think this is what we lack othman, a motto.. something we will always remember and to push us forward to define ourselves and our way of thought
ReplyDeleteMy dear friends,
ReplyDeleteI may walk one day and never come back
the world has many opportunities to be seized
do not hinder yourself with obstacles
but consider them tools to shape
allow yourself to learn
to love
to dream
take every step with confidence
knowing inside you there is a giant
be happy
shine around you
and above all
ENJOY!
Now that was fun to read after an entire semester.. Stay posted to my last post for the semester.. maybe i'll have a piece of poetry in there too.. :D