Expected, Inspected, & Respected.
"We do not learn from experience … we learn from reflecting on experience."
-John Dewey |
"We do not learn from experience … we learn from reflecting on experience."
-John Dewey |
This showed up on my Facebook feed this weekend and I got a little emotional about it. It was difficult to find the words to explain to my wife that I was crying by myself on a couch on Saturday morning because I watched a video of some children playing Ozzy Osborne on xylophones. What I tried to communicate to her (much less coherently) was this: First of all, kids playing music well and with passion tends to do this to me. This time it feels a little bit different because of the new educator lens I'm seeing things through these days. The emotion is deeper and more sad because this type of excitement and excellence is so rare and I don't think it has to be. I think children are more capable than we often give them credit for. We underestimate them and "dumb it down", when so much more is possible. I want to know what it takes to get kids motivated enough to put in the effort it takes to achieve excellence. I won't stop believin' because I've seen it. It's not only in music that we underestimate children's abilities: And I don't think these are examples of kids with exceptional amounts of innate talent or ability. I believe they are children who have excellent teachers that have inspired them and guided them, step by step, showing them how greatness can be achieved through consistency, effort, striving toward a goal, and attention to detail. Here's one more to get you all fired up! (I know they're not really kids but it's a good one.)
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David Wiebe
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