Week 2 Reading - Be the Contribution
This concept of considering how you are going to make a contribution to the world makes me think of one of my favorite quotes by Gandhi. I was brought up this way, to consider others and how you’re impacting the world. That’s most of my reason for becoming a teacher, to contribute to future generations, to make a difference in the world. I was taught from an early age to give back; at the age of six, one of the kids in my class lost their home to a fire, and I picked out toys to bring to school for him. I was taught to help others, just like I was taught to write my name or tie my shoes, and I was taught that getting praise isn’t the important part, but knowing that you helped them was what was important.I loved Ben’s story about the retirement home because it shows that no matter where we are in life, as long as we are drawing breath, we can make a contribution to the world. It also shows that while sometimes we are dreading doing something, that by actually starting it opens the door for us to gain so much. Contributing is such a reciprocal act, we think we are giving to someone else, but we gain so much from the experience itself. There have been points in my life where I felt like a failure, and now that I look back and reflect, I can understand that it’s probably because I felt like I wasn’t contributing to the world. Like the story of the men selling shoes in Africa, a positive mindset is vitally important to what you do. Contributing to the greater good, can give you extraordinary results.
I often get frustrated with my students because some of them are so focused on “me, me, me” that they lose sight of everyone else in the room. Sometimes I get a great deal of backlash, when I ask them to consider others, for instance by being quiet in the library so another class can work. Now I have some students that would practically give you the shirt off their back, but these others hurt my heart. I can appreciate that teenagers feel like they are under the microscope, but I am saddened and horrified by a society that doesn’t enlighten them to the truth.
My Response
It sounds like you were raised with some good values. Now I know who to go to if I ever get in trouble. From the book, Being a Contribution is certainly another excellent way of thinking. I like it because it makes us proactive and not being “an arm chair quarterback” full of complaints. During teacher meetings it is natural for us to get into whirlwind of gripes and complaints regarding our students. I takes a leader to find strategies we can use to address those problems. Notice, I did not say solutions. Solutions in education are few and far between. This is because every students is truly a different person. Don’t get discouraged because of the few. Their problems are usually wide and deep and require a “whole village” to get them out. However, like the book advocates, celebrate in the few who are victorious. Then hopefully you drag a few more students along on the way.
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