I saw this on Twitter and as someone who struggles to a) manage shiny object syndrome and b) tell you what I want (what I really really want, zigazig ah) …this was a great, simple question.
If you can’t read it, the question a teacher asked was: “If I let you teach my students for one hour… what subject/lesson/objective would you choose to teach and how?”
Cool question! ALL HAIL GOOD TEACHERS!
I don’t know how old your students are 🙂 But perhaps I’d talk about how to determine the agenda of any given piece of media. First question to ask yourself: “Who’s paying for this?” Second question: “Who’s getting paid?” pic.twitter.com/4vWHqjXmtS
— Joseph Gordon-Levitt (@hitRECordJoe) March 7, 2018
One Thing I Wish I Could Teach You
What I want people to know (and I think it’d be great if kids were taught this) is that your decisions are the right ones. Your decisions don’t have to be what your parents, teachers, siblings and other people who influence your life want you to do.
- You can listen to them.
- You can consider what they tell you.
- You can consider how you feel about the options they suggest to you.
- You can trust your gut about what you want and what will suit you.
- You can try things.
- You can fail and give up.
- You can fail and try again.
- You can succeed, and still choose not to continue something.
- You can succeed, and pass it along to someone else.
Of course, I don’t think there’s a hope in hell any school would want me to show up and tell them that their teachers might not be worth listening to.
I guess that’s why I’ve half written a book on it.
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What would you tell students if you had just one hour to get a message across?
I would teach students the thought cycle – where your thoughts are choice. Your thoughts cause your feelings, your feelings cause your actions and your actions result in the outcome. Happiness is not from external things – it is always available to you – internally.
My message to them would be similar to yours. Summed up as ” to thine own self be true. ” I think it is critical to teach kids that they are perfect just as they are- in mine, body and spirit. Don’t change to fit in, don’t follow a path someone else lays out for you, and always trust your gut.
OMG! I love Joseph Gordon Levitt! What a guy! As a teacher this has really got me thinking. I think my first lesson would have to be “choose kind.” (Clearly I’ve been watching a lot of ‘Wonder.’)
I ditto on this! Kindness is a human necessity!! Also the art of great budgeting!!
I ditto on this! Kindness is a human necessity!! Also the art of great budgeting!! #teamIBOT
So is spelling?!! Must check before post!!
I HAD to read this post because I HAD to see what you wrote. And good on you! Thanks Vanessa for enlightening this old teacher about what is important for you and how this would be your message. Denyse
Oh I would love to teach them almost all of what you’ve said and I think sometimes, I do in therapy. But yes, be kind, stand up for yourself, it’s okay if you fail, there is no such thing as being perfect, it’s okay if not everyone likes you, and the most important of all, feel the fear and do it anyway.