Bill Short was my high school calc teacher. His passion for math enveloped our classroom. Once there, the only thing that existed was the chalkboard. His gift - an incredible doorway to the beauty of math. Huge grazie dear dear Mr Short.
In between highschool and now (30+ years) and even before that, the list is loooooooong - of people/teachers/coaches who inspired/taught me about life and math and swimming and....
I think in the last 2-3 years, a major population that has influenced me the most has been my students. Not because they have gotten wiser, but because I have just begun to really listen to them...
I mostly blame Seth Godin for that. My connection with him (and his Triiibesters) has completely changed my view on student/teacher relationships, relationships with people in general. Before I started reading Seth's books and his daily blog, I had great relationships with my students, and they would generally perform well for me because of that relationship. Seth, however, has taught me to see my students as customers, even though writing it still makes me cringe. The difference? As a customer, I'm not just working on a relationship with a student, I'm listening to them, finding out how they view things, studying their habits, figuring out how they learn best. That has been huge for me. I'm on a mission now. Grazie Mr. Godin. No measureable thank you is enough. And the beat goes on ...here.
Another person that influences/inspires me to get uncomfortable and actively listen to kids is danah boyd. Not only is she teaching me what kids are saying with her unequaled research - her method of learning is what i aspire to. Whenever I hear danah speak or I read something she's written, I'm captivated the entire time, because I know every ounce of her words come from authentic experiences. Grazie danah boyd - for being brave enough to teach us stuff that matters.
Today, a lot of people that know of me say that I am passionate about tech. The ones who know me ask, how can that be, as they help me turn on the computer so that I can present to a crowd about rich web use. The passion isn't the tech. The passion is learning how to learn. I can credit a lot of that passion to Steven Devijver, who I met through Triiibes. Steven gave me an incredible 5 month course on that very topic. He was my very first individual expert tutor. That was an experience that I will never be able to quantify. It is why I'm so passionate about connecting kids to their own expert individual tutor - to owning their own learning.
And back to the kids. Funny, two days before Shelly's tag challenge, I started an ongoing post where I plan to keep adding a blurb about all the kool bean kids I've been graced with. Grazie-zimos - all of you darlings. You keep me inline. You keep me informed. You teach me daily. You feed my passion. some of these kids have created me-videos, click on their name for a kool bean treat.
I love this game of tag Shelly. Thank you for always rebooting us...encouraging us to pass it on.
I'm tagging: Alec Couros, Anne McCrossan, Nik Peachy, Saul Kaplan, Joy Shaw, danah boyd, and Seth Godin. I'm ever so curious what got/gets them going.
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