I played Yanni's video of this song. Standing alone in my darkened classroom, watching the faces of these great musicians light up the screen with their inner happiness and talent made me realize the same has been done in this very room.
No more are the rich getting richer and poor getting poorer. No longer are the smart getting smarter while the dumb get dumber. We have broken the cycle. EVERYONE IS GETTING SMARTER, and RICHER with the confident reality that they are truly UNLIMITED!
Children of many different nationalities (I think about 8), religions (Christian, Muslim, Jewish, Buddhist) and economic backgrounds (very rich to very poor) ALL have succeeded to unbelievable heights this year. ALL have done things they have NEVER done before....
And most importantly, ALL FEEL INCREDIBLE about themselves.
Research shows us that at most we use 5% of our brain's potential. 100% is the result of proper education.
Students who began the year far below grade level and couldn't spell science let alone understand its concepts are now going to other classes giving demonstrations that they have created lesson plans for and designed.
Some parents of these same students threatened to have me fired and arrested this year because I demanded too much from their children. I have found that the risk is always worth it. If something is holding someone back, melt it away with love or smash it apart with a hammer......but for their sakes', don't let it keep holding them back.
Others who were "A" students because they were "hard workers" and could memorize facts and the spelling of any word, couldn't think for themselves when I asked for their own original thought. Much to their, and their parents' horror, they would go home with their first ever "F's".
Failure isn't something to run away from and avoid, it is to be experienced and overcome. This is how you grow. Now these students are sitting at the teacher's computer of the class they are visiting, recording the data being collected from the experiment in real time, and sorting and graphing it in front of a live audience.
This is real ability. Knowledge is NOT power. The ability to USE IT is.
These teachers are telling me they had no idea 5th graders were capable of this, and demanding this be done in education form here on out. Even a high school principal, hearing stories of 1st graders doing research and Power Point projects as a result of this, admits many of his high school students don't show this ability.
And these 1st graders have been taught how to do this by 5th graders.
This is proper education. This is real.
And if I were allowed to post their pictures, the happy faces you see on this video is what they would look like. Some of the best musicians in the world, not full of "potential" .........but of ACTUAL, REALIZED and DEVELOPED TALENT......doing what they LOVE to do for a living ......and doing it BRILLIANTLY!
This lifestyle isn't meant for the lucky few.....It is meant for us ALL!
Proper education..........It's true that the teacher can't play the instrument or sing the song that is the unique gift of the individual musician/student.......
But it's also true that the teacher can't blame the "bad" music on bad musicians, parenting, economics, etc.
Maybe you can lead a horse to water but can't make him drink......But you can at least find out what he's thirsty for.
Build relationships with your students (or child, or spouse, or players, etc) and uncover why they're playing bad music. Throw what anyone else thinks of you to the side and focus all your energy on what the child thinks of him or herself. Find out what "music" they hear inside of themselves and want so desperately to play.
The teacher is not the educational babysitter. He or she is the conductor of all the beauty and talent of each and every student in the room.
Bring out the best in each one! Their future lives depend on it. And it CAN be done.
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