What I've Learned About Teaching from Doing Karate: Day 3

In the book Karate-Do, My Way of Life by Master Gichin Funakoshi, the author states six rules for ...well, it doesn't really say what the six rules are for. The chapter is just titled "Six Rules." I supposed this means that they're just for life, which does make some sense.

Anyway, my favorite one (and the most practical, in my opinion) is #5. It states: Try to see yourself as you truly are and try to adopt what is meritorious in the work of others. I love this. It's hard to look at yourself as you really are, and probably a little embarrassing if you're like me. But as long as I try to focus on being more like what I admire in other people, I am always improving as a human being.

A couple years ago, I had a student who wrote me the most heart-rending letter (letters, actually) at the end of the school year. My first thought was, "Man, I wish I was who this kid thinks I am." My second thought was, "Man, I need to become who this kid thinks I am."

I made a list of the people I most admire. I listed them by name--there were seventeen of them--and then wrote what quality in them I did most admire. As I thought of more people, I would find the things I liked about them the best, and I found just by writing those qualities down, they started to sink into my brain and my heart.

I'm not saying this was some kind of grand miracle that forever changed who I am, but at least I had a kind of Platonic ideal toward which I could strive. And the thing about people is that there is a limitless supply out there, and nearly all of them have something about them that is amazingly cool. No reason to stop improving. No excuses either, for that matter.

One of the best things that we do at Woodbrook is called a "breeze through". We, as teachers, take the time to walk through each others' classrooms while we're teaching, and it never ceases to amaze me that every time I go into anyone else's classroom, I find at least one thing which makes me think, "Why didn't I think of that!? Duh!" I write it down and bring it back to my classroom immediately.

Never stop improving? Sound advice, no matter what your job.