LeaderTalk

Enthusiasm is Contagious

This speech by Jimmy Valvano will make you laugh, make you think, and might even make you cry, which is exactly the advice that the late basketball coach gave to the audience at the 1993 ESPYs.  It certainly encouraged me to remain enthusiastic and not allow the many little things of school life to get me down.

Jimmy Valvano ESPY speech 1993 

My goodnes, if we can't be enthusiastic about shaping the lives of children for the better, we really are in the wrong business. 

This I believe

I recently caught a This I believe segment from NPR and heard the story of William Wissemman, a young man who shared all the life lessons he had learned from solving the Rubiks cube.  This got me thinking about all the things I believe about teaching, learning, and education.  And with this school year shaping up to be the toughest of my current assignment, I really need the inspiration of my core beliefs to sustain me to do the work well with these teachers and these students at this time.  So this I believe.

I believe that whatever you think about learning (learning is fun - learning is a bore) your students will come to believe the same thing.

I believe that many factors affect student's academic growth, but one trumps them all by a landslide: teacher quality.

I believe that high school drop outs are born and bred in elementary school.

I believe that some kids fail because of poor family support, lack of background knowledge and skills, etc, ad nauseum, but I'm going to focus all my energy on what I can control.

I believe that intervention must begin the first day of kindergarten if we want all students to succeed.

I believe some teachers are hungry for the kind of adult learning that will allow them grow, risk, change, and my job is to help create an environment for them to do just that.

I believe that I'm an accomplice to poor teaching every time I fail to confront an ineffective practice.

I believe that the professional teachers deserve my respect, admiration, encouragement, and gratitude and I need to go out of my way to give them everything that they need.

I believe that reading and writing are joyful, creative activities that are motivating in themselves.

I believe that reading and writing sometimes can be drudgery and hard work and we have to show kids how to persevere through those times as well.

I believe that every class and every teacher should be good enough for my own children or I need to do something to make that so.

Just writing these out has encouraged me to stay the course.  I highly recommend some others join the fray and share their thoughts as well.  So, what do you believe?