Stop Stealing Dreams

(33). Who will teach bravery?....Can risk-taking be taught?

I believe it already is happening in the schools. When you consider music or drama or even art, students are constantly taking chances. Courage (and bravery) to perform, create, display, "try something new" are all inherently integrated with these disciplines. I don't agree that "Bravery in school is punished, not rewarded". I think Godin is over exaggerating the facts a bit here. I would go as far to say that students are being challenged (taking chances) throughout all the acedemics in the "more effective" classrooms, at least where I teach it is.


29. The other side of fear is passion 
43. How not to teach someone to be a baseball fan....
"The industrialized, scalable, testable solution is almost never the best way to generate exceptional learning."  (How true!)
109. What great teachers have in common is the ability to transfer emotion

I grouped these together for my response because I felt they connect

Most of us really need to find away to engage students, or provide the right circumstances for them to do it themselves. Students need motivation (other then a good test score) to desire to do their best, to be a true learner.
I remember a story, one of my old profs told me, that kind-of fits here. It is a bit off topic, but still relevant. When this prof was starting-off as a young elementary art teacher ("student teacher" to be exact), he had a problem. He was one of those art teachers that had no room of his own, so he would "roll" into the room with all the supplies for the day. Anyway, he had very little supplies to work with his students. In fact, the only thing he had was "blue paint", paper and paint brushes. He resolved the problem by his approach with the kids.  With that particular lesson, he began by slowly rolling in with his cart. Almost in a whisper, he begins saying..." Ya know what we have today (pausing, with a mischievous smile).... We have..... (with a shout) BLUE PAINT. WE GOT BLUE PAINT. And he ran around and around the room repeating the words... blue paint. He worked those kids up so much, that blue paint became the coolest thing in the world... nothing else mattered.The lesson was irrelevant, because the kids would have settled for the worst he could have given.... the paint was all they could think of.
The moral of my story is that "motivation"... getting them interested... however you do it... is key. So, in a way all of the above quoted remarks, I think Godin is also suggesting this.