Sublime

Engaging in something new, difficult, frustrating, oftentimes inexplicable, and endlessly expansive has helped me understand students like never before.

If they were singled out by their coaches, it was not for unusual aptitude but unusual motivation. That motivation wasn’t innate; it tended to begin with a coach or teacher who made learning fun. “What any person in the world can learn, almost all persons can learn,” the lead psychologist concluded, “if provided with appropriate . . . conditions of

T is for Teach

If you’re leading, you’re searching for enrollment. For people who say “I see you and trust you and want to go where you are going.” This is not what happens in compulsory education. People are there because they have to be, not because they want to be. They’re there for an education (and a certificate), not for learning or passion or magic. When w

The web is rife with inexpensive learning institutions (Ex: Udemy, Code Academy, Lynda, Stanford Online) where new skills don’t require cash; they require a growth mindset and a Kaizen commitment.

“Teach ’em.” — Steve Brouse, my friend and colleague, who said this to a teacher who was complaining that her students didn’t already know something

He modeled for students a

A good teacher knows that when a student is failing, the blame falls on the instructor, not the pupil. How much more generous and tolerant would we be if we could extend this understanding to other spheres in our life? To be able to see that if a friend is unreliable, maybe it’s because they don’t know what’s wrong or because we haven’t tried to he

This to me means that if you’re asking people to be your mentor today and it’s not going well, repurpose that into a positive thing. Become your own mentor for a while. You can always learn more.