I truly have received the best Christmas, Hannukah, and Id-e-Milad presents this year from my children and students. No matter what their religion or race or color of their hair, they have all given back to me what I have given to them.......seeing themselves for what they truly are.....Beautiful, possible, and capable of anything they set their minds to
They have given me the shining of their inner beauty.........and as I realize what they have already done in just half a year I feel as if all the holiday lights are shining within meThe math class began the year as the lowest performing students on last year's state tests. On an online program they are now number one in the school and the district, and second in the county among all classes. They are also ranked as the 40th highest among all classes in the state and the 18th highest of all 5th grade classes.
THIS IS HUGE and VERY IMPORTANT for all of us as it could and should lead to the evolution of mankind! How does a group of students/people change so fast in such a short time?
Because they BELIEVED they could, and learned to use those POWERFUL FEELINGS to guide their thoughts towards a POWERFUL PURPOSE.
In reading more students now score A's than anything else, and most do it without sitting in their seats all week being "taught". Instead they spend their time learning about the things THEY WANT TO, and take the tests "cold", seeing the story for the first time, and still ace it.
****(This is a solution for the age-old complaint, "You can lead a horse to water but can't make him drink." - While this is true, what you can do is find out what he or she is thirsty for. What do they want to know more about? If they can master the traditional curriculum (ace the tests) they set themselves free from being chained to their desks by it.)In social studies and science students tell me they can't wait to get to school to work on and show their projects, one telling me he dreams of being able to come to school at 2am to have the time he wants to work on his boat.
And they have done all this in less time than any other class I've taught. Instead of one group spending all day integrating their subjects, they have to do it in @ one hour then move on to another class.
What it's taken is an accelerated process of what it means to truly dream big (believe in the beauty of yourself) and do big. I've hollered the hades out of them and hugged more heaven into them faster and harder than I've ever done with any class before.
Three different times I've seen my maker beckoning me home before politely refusing the invitation. (Thank you Ray - I needed help refusing one of these requests and you were there to do it. And thank you son, hugging me two years ago after you made a mistake and promised me you wouldn't think you were a mistake because of it.)It is OK to "work ourselves to death"....for what? To make the boss happy, pay our bills, provide for our children, make as much money as we can, etc.
And we admire our greatest heroes, our sports champions, who "play in pain"....for what? To win a game.
The point is we are all so much more than what we're living, and have been living for thousands of years. We all live, we all sometimes hurt, and we all die. The question we don't ask ourselves is what are we going to live for, suffer in pain for, and eventually die for?
If we're living for more than individual fame and glory, to bring out the best in those around us, to help them see and develop their most beautiful and powerful selves........then we're living for is the most valuable and powerful thing of all........LOVE for more than ourselves.
And what we're one day going to die for is something very valuable and worthwhile.....that leads to the evolution of mankind where more people succeed at becoming more evolved
I just asked Sofia, "What does Daddy live for?"
"Love"
"What is Daddy going to die for?"
"Love"
"Are you OK with that?"
"Of course", she just said with a confused look (validating once again that we do know the truth as youth, before it is "taught" out of us and forgotten during adulthood).
"No Dad, you live for money!", she just said with a mocking grin.
With real sadness I told her that's what most of us do end up living and dying for, with short breaks in between called vacations and holidays.
Teachers can also do this math program and I accomplished in one week what it took some to do in 11 months. Very quickly I moved to #1 in the state and 7th in the country. This can only be explained by the fact that I teach to many students individually at the same time, causing my brain to adapt and grow very quickly on a daily basis. This is the second program that ranks me as one of the smartest people in the country (the other one in the world). And my mother thought I might be mentally handicapped when I was younger, but so was Einstein and Edison.
I'm thinking so-called "geniuses" are simply those whose brains resist the unnatural filling of its neurons with memorized information and instead learn TO USE their brains to think, connect, solve and create at faster and faster rates. And it's very possible that the smartest of us might still only be using 10% of our brains.
This is what brain plasticity is, and what we're ALL capable of, which the students in my classes are proving as an undeniable fact year-after-year-after-year.If education doesn't change because of this, then despite how loving, smart and strong I have become, I have failed in becoming nothing more than a poster on someone's wall in the future for someone who probably doesn't need the motivation anyway.
And education will continue to be dotted with teachers who believe they can only hope to reach at least one student each year, and those rare teachers who reach all students in at least one way.
Every single one of us is deserving of having the best brought out in us, each and every year, and going on to spend our lives, living and dying to change the world for the better in our own very special and very powerful way.
We change history by changing the future, and we change the future by changing the present. It's a beautiful thing to see the people around you change and see how beautiful they truly are...
Thank you for doing this kids.
From all of us to all the world,
Happy Holidays
May the best present you open this holiday be yourself.
**Definitely watch this.....every day if possible.....and FEEL it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nv4mlFxLD90 (same clip but better quality - embedding disabled)
Another great and important clip from the movie about how the brain works
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZQ2UdNY0UAw
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