The last question asked was “What advice would you give 6th grade students?”

There were several versions of answers. A few highlights:

• Keep up the good work and you will see that hard work pays off.
• Don’t give up ever!
• Try your best and get a good education.
• You need a good education to get through life.
• Believe in yourselves.
• Think ahead of what you want to be and make your own decisions.
• Strive for what you believe in and you’ll accomplish it.
• Follow your dream and never give up on it.
• Take care of your life the way you want it to be.
• Just keep on trying and don’t let nothing get in your way.
• Don’t smoke. Grow up to be somebody. Do not do drugs. Try to get somewhere and be happy of what you did accomplish.
• If you have a dream, catch it and run with it.
• Do your work and finish college and have a nice future.
• Achieve what you believe in, strive for what you want to achieve.
• Never give up on your goal you want to accomplish, because you might accomplish it.
• Seize the day, go for it and don’t let anyone stop you.
• Never give up, just keep trying.
• Be whatever you want to be.

After the students shared their answers to that question I challenged them with Are you walking the talk, are you practicing what you preach, are you following your own advice?Most of them said yes.

My challenge to them challenged me. Am I living the way I say for others to live?

The students see how we live and they do listen to what we say and what we don’t do. May we always walk our talk.

“To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven.” Eccelesiates 3:1

The passage goes on to speak of a time of birth, death, love, hate and laughter and dance. Yet it doesn’t speak of a time to wonder. I wonder why?

To take time to wonder is something I needed to be reminded of as I was one Memorial Weeend. Marie, my wife and I brought our two grandsons Brandon age four and Brian age two to visit my mother. The whole weekend was like being a counselor at summer camp.

One morning, Brandon and Brian and I took a walk. It was sometimes hand and hand and other times running and wandering. We stopped and looked both ways before crossing the street. We listened to the birds. We stepped over and on the bugs, oops. While crossing one street recently paved, Brian, the youngest stopped me.

“WOW! COOL!” he declared as he began to walk and dance around the tar swirls in the street.

My adult mind wanted to hurry up and finish the walk. I had more important things to do, don’t you know. Then, I realized Brian saw something I didn’t. I decided to see it too. Brian, Brandon and I walked the swirls. I saw different patterns. I thought of the paving equipement used to pave the street. I could smell the tar.

Taking time to wonder still is something I need to be reminded to do. Then, I can see and enjoy the WOW! and COOL! of the moment.

How can you be attentive to the wonder in your life?

What simple ways can you capture and celebrate the wonder?

Who can you share the wonder with?

Take time to wonder. It’s worth the wonder.

Henry David Thoreau said, “trust no thought you get sitting down.” Was he referring to the traditional classroom? Years ago, I attended a retreat with all the 6th grade teachers in our middle school. We were asked what is needed to improve the education of our students. The answers depended on the subjects taught. The math and science people wanted more computers, the English and reading people wanted newer books.  “Get rid of the desks,” was my suggestion. “Those desks are not conducive to learning. Have you ever tried siting in one? The only ones that benefit are the desk manufacturers. What a sweet deal with the school district that must be.” Unfortunately no one agreed or disagreed.

Imagine a learning environment without desks! But how would the students learn? My plan is simple – have them sit on the floor, stand up, move around. We could have a learning lab that is literally hands on. Relax, we could have simple stools, sofas, and even recliners when we needed to sit.

Most of our early learning was done outdoors: making mud pies, picking up leaves, catching fireflies and butterflies, running, oh yes, the running!  As we grew older, some of our best and lasting learning happened in extracurricular activites like sports, clubs, school newspaper,etc. Norm Katz, Little League baseball coach taught us  what it means to be a member of a team and play as a team. Mrs. Riordan’s  rock club in 5th grade taught me more about science than her science class.

Instead of shouting to students, “sit still, don’t move, be quiet” we need to free them and ourselves to learn by standing up, moving around and making noise. That way no one would ever be sent to the hall for talking too much. We’d all be guilty.

While you learn:

STAND UP!

MORE AROUND!

MAKE NOISE!

“Trust any thought you get while moving around.”

A triangle represents the old model of family involvement. The partnership showed each person: child, teacher and parent as one of the angles. This picture lacked focus and a sense of collaboration. The new model, a circle with the parent and teacher equally rotating in orbit around the child in the middle represents a united and focused effort. Since the child is the reason for the school and the relationship between teacher and parent, there needs to be a clear definition and distinction of that partnership.

In 1999-2000, I worked as a Middle School Advisor for Cleveland Scholarship Programs. I was assigned to a middle school on the west side of Cleveland. My primary responsibility was to educate the students in early awareness about careers and colleges. Also, I was required to conduct parent meetings. Which basically consisted of food (always a good bribe to insure some attendance) and some materials and handouts that Cleveland Scholarship was required to communicate according to its funding.

Many of my parents were single mothers. I attempted to create flexible back-up sessions for those who couldn’t attend the scheduled evening sessions due to work or the challenges of getting someone to care for the children. I enjoyed these one on one sessions even though the number that participated was small. It allowed me to address directly some of their personal concerns and still communicate the general information I was required to convey.

The demands of a teacher are high. Not only do the demands include educating a classroom of children but also factoring in the learning needs of each child according to their age and stage and culture. The teacher needs to be flexible to address the challenges of the diversity of cultures and family dynamics of the various children. In addition, the teacher is required to communicate with the parents as individuals and as a whole.

The parents have their own unique demands. Some are single parents working and raising children. They have time conflicts and challenges of work, school, and home. The balancing and juggling seems to be a constant. Even parents who both live together have challenges including work and its demands and relationships between each other as adults and the raising of the children and overseeing their education at school.

Parent involvement needs to be defined and distinguished. Parent involvement is “an all-inclusive term used to describe all manner of parent program interaction: policy making, parent education, fundraising, volunteering time, and even the simple exchange of information of various sorts with staff”. (p.27 “Home, School, & Community Relations” by Carol Gestwicki)

Gestwicki states “There is no single model of parent involvement. Schools choose to address it in various ways ranging from a low level to a high level of involvement”. (p. 27) It seems that the school and teachers and parents need to define and distinguish the level of involvement required. All the parties involved would have a say in the level of involvement and clearly know the roles and responsibilities of one another.

Empathy on both sides would improve the communication between teacher and parent. Allow the parents to “walk in the shoes” of the teacher and teachers move beyond their world into of that of the parents. Why not have a getting to know you gathering? This could be done at the start of the new school year in small groups and preferably one on one. Before we address the education of the child, let’s learn about each other and what are our respective challenges. That way we can genuinely respect each other and create a partnership of collaboration and cooperation. Then, our conversations about the child would be much more mutual, supportive and productive. And I believe the level of involvement would be  higher and more proactive. Thus, creating a complete, cohesive, and comprehensive involvement circle.

We are born with 100 billion neurons and by age three each neuron has formed 15,000 connections with other neurons. We are given more connections than we will ever need.   We absorb each new bit of information but none of it makes sense to us. The abundance of connections causes us to be overwhelmed by too many signals from many different sources. To make sense of your world you have to shut out some of the noise in your head. 

By the time we are sixteen pruning occurs and we lose billions and billions of the synaptic connections. Your genetic inheritance and early childhood experiences assist you in finding some connections smoother and easier to use. You are drawn to these connections again and again and they become stronger. These signals are loud and clear.

Certain behaviors and reactions fit and feel right to you because of these stronger connections. The neuronal network gets reduced to a smaller number of connection so you will develop into an adult. Without the pruning process we would remain in sensory overload stuck as a child. 

What makes each of us unique is our network of mental connections. This creates and causes a recurring pattern of thoughts, feelings and behaviors. Our personal mental network is a filter for us to sort and sift our experiences so we can zero in on some stimuli and ignore others. 

Brain cell development starts at 42 days after conception. The first brain cell called a neuron fires. Approximately 9,500 new neurons are created every second till there are 100 billion neurons. We are born with 100 billion neurons and have that many till late middle life.  

Sixty days before your birth your neurons start trying to communicate with each other. That communication is a reaching out as a strand called an axon. When a connection is made, a synapse is formed. By the age of three each of the 100 billion neurons have formed 15,000 synaptic connections. That’s 15,000 for each of your 100 billion neurons. For example, from 16 months to 36 months there is a big burst of language and cognitive competence. The child goes from knowing a total of 5-10 words to gaining 1-2 words every day. 

The stronger the neuron connection, the faster the processing. We learn because our neurons are connected. Each time we learn something new, our brains are changed. The patterns of woven connections is extensive, intricate and unique. 

I say yeah! As I have quoted Albert Einstein before ” “What if we change the yardstick?”. Personally, I have never been very good at standardized tests. I took the GRE for grad school and did okay. Thanks to a Cleveland State University professor who knew me and my capabilities I got into the program. For sure, the GRE was no predicator of my successfully completing my M.S. in Public Administration with a 3.8 GPA.

How do we measure ourselves and one another?  The Bible says “man looks at the outward appearance, but God looks at the heart” (1 Samuel 16:7).  An assistant high school principal told my brother Tobey, “guys like you and your brother end up in the gutter.”  He sure didn’t know our heart. Tobey got a masters degree in Public Administration, worked for the city of Long Beach, then as a technical writer and finally as an elementary school teacher.  

The outward measurement and high GPA didn’t accurately predict the future success of one young lady at Cal State Long Beach. This student was literally a 4.0 in every subject including her accounting major. “I am nervous about taking the CPA exam,” she said to me. I’m thinking, huh? Here is this bright, attractive young lady who will soon start a job with a major CPA firm in downtown Los Angeles worried about taking another test. “You have a 4.0 in all your subjects. What are you worried about?” I asked. “Oh, I only studied to pass the tests,” she said.

While she learned how to take tests, I  had learned how to learn.  Book smart doesn’t mean life smart.

There is a sense of not making any progress your  focus is only on a goal. You have a goal in view but are not conscious how much progress you have made along the way. 

We can apply measuring to learning. I call it The Learning Gap. I learned about The Gap from Bill Harris of Centerpointe who learned it from Dan Sullivan of Strategic Coach.  Dan identifies two kinds of people and how these two types measure and evaluate their progress in life. One has an ideal in mind for who they want to be and where they want to go, and they evaluate their progress by that ideal.

An ideal is a concept of what is perfect. An example of an ideal is the horizon. The horizon isn’t real, it exists in your mind. You travel toward the horizon but no matter how far you travel you never get there. When you start to learn something, you may have an ideal in mind and benchmark it against how others have succeeded.  Having the goal with mental pictures to motivate is important. The frustration happens when you measure your progress against your ideal. You never have the satisfaction of making progress. It becomes an exercise in futility because you feel like you’re never making any progress. The gap between where you are and where you want your learning to be stays the same no matter what you do. 

Albert Einstein asked “What if we change the yardstick?”. The question is what are we measuring and why? About 10 years, Linda, my coach, challenged me “What are some other ways to measure your success besides how much money you are making?” For the following week I began to count how many times I smiled while interacting with people. Also, how many times I made a person smile. It shifted my yardstick of success.  It became how many people I touched.  

 Create your own learning yardstick to track your progress. For example, how many books did you read this month. What are 3 things you learned from your reading? What is one thing that you could share with someone else? 

It’s the steps you take on the journey, not merely the destination.  Measure your learning progress by your own standards and  celebrate your learning milestones. You may be surprised at your progress.

I told Ashley why every day is a gift to me. Many years ago, I got in an industrial accident and lost four toes on my left foot. Also, over the past 20 years, I’ve had three major car accidents. Seat belts saved my life in two of them. Then, 4 years ago, I had a severe reaction to food poisoning. That many brushes with death reminds me that I am alive because God still wants me here. 

Later, as I was leaving, I gave Ashley and her co-worker Mary a card to get a free New Testament study Bible from Bibles for America. http://www.biblesforamerica.org. “Most people don’t read the Bible because they don’t understand it. The Bible is the Word of God and communicates God’s purpose and how He wants to have a relationship with us through His son Jesus Christ.” I said. 

She thanked me and assured me that she would order her free Bible. That made me happy. This afternoon, our oldest son Judson called me to wish me Happy Father’s Day. I returned the favor. It was already a happy day and it just got happier. 

Happy Day every day to everyone. Each day is a precious gift to live, learn, laugh and love. I encourage you all to get your free study Bible. We all need help to learn and understand things. This Bible will help you understand the truth. May you be blessed with the free gift of eternal life as I have.  May you enjoy and grow in the divine life each and every day!

I have been fortunate to have a few good teachers. Miss Maurice, the librarian who challenged me to read with an eye on quality. Mr. Harper, 6th grade teacher who used real world examples from the Wall Street Journal to teach us math and English.  Their examples encouraged me to learn in school. And I never quit learning because school was out. To me, it just meant no grades and no stuff I had to learn. The summer reading program at the public library in South Bend,In was an annual event for  me.

Earlier this year, I retook the Gallup Strengths Finder Profile. Learner is my #2 strength. Which clearly explains my passion for learning. The learner loves to learn. It is the process that excites me. A new skill, a new subject all become a new challenge for me. Engaged in the process, I then want to share that information with others. 

Now, I believe we all love to learn. Unfortunately, some of us had a rough start. Possibly not enough example and encouragement in the home. School teachers who could only relate to students who learned like them. And usually have zero tolerance for students who learned differently. 

Well, don’t let your past learning experiences stop you from learning today. I often had to remind myself “this is now, that was then” whenever a negative experience surfaced. Those negative experiences combined with some professors who couldn’t teach. They say, “those who can’t do, teach,” So what does that say about the ones who can’t do or teach?

What helped me was to focus on my goal of finishing the degree so I could get a good job to support my family. And I would energize myself by resurrecting my inner joy of learning recalling times that were pleasant, usually learning outside of school.  

Someone said, “we start school as a question mark and we end as a period”. That’s not good! Let’s help each turn that around for our learning today and in the future. Also, to help our children navigate their learning in and out of school so they always maintain the joy and wonder of learning.

What positive experiences did you have in school? What made them positive? The teacher? The subject?

What positive experiences did you have learning outside of school? How has those experiences impacted you?