Sunday, October 14, 2012

50 Words -- Hans Hickler's Legacy for Teachers to Use to Make School Meaningful

What is the power of a simple question?

"How are you doing today?"

"You look down.  What's up?"

"What books are you reading now?"

Hans, a business coach, joins the ranks of non-teachers like Malcolm Gladwell, Thomas Friedman, Dan Pink and others who have written prescriptions for teachers.  What do schools need to raise in class?  What ideas should be discussed?   What should students learn?

Why not click and give Hans some additional hits?   How about subscribing to his e-letter?  he's an executive coach and he wants to share some of the aiglon meditations with his clients.


Here is a message that I received from Hans

===== 
I do a daily management blog through  my www.ellipsisadvisors.com website and would like to use some of the meditation messages from Aiglon College as inspiration for my blogs
www.ellipsisadvisors.com

---------------   
So I sent him the following message:

it has JC's meditations in text form
here is another version


HE REPLIED
Steve
thought you might be interested in checking out my blog at www.ellipsisadvisors.com
If you like it sign, up. Every day i send a short leadership lesson
also, would love some feedback or ideas on what you think i should write about.   
www.ellipsisadvisors.com

He added: I am doing a lot of work with an organization called ashoka, which sponsors and supports social entrepreneurs around the world. about 600 of the entrepreneurs are engaged in one way or another in embedding values and empathy into children curriculums either through education or creative play models. I wrote a small book for my kids called "50 Words (A simple Legacy)" which is published in Amazon Kindle.(do a search for hans hickler on amazon) am now turning it into a website for teachers to use for their kids to write their 50 words book. the premise of the book is "if you could only p[ass 50 words in the english language on to the next generation, what words would they be" - an exercise in identifying personal values. will bring a copy of the book when i see you-speaking of which, how does 2 pm on 18th work for me to stop by and see you?


HERE IS THE LINK
to the kindle


WHY NOT GIVE A CLICK to see what he's done?

So, Hans has made an effort to tell teachers how to create discussions and thought-provoking lessons….
Imagine the discussions over the dinner table if this book were brought home in millions of homes?   

As a teacher and a trainer of teachers, I have a hard time finding valuable lessons that can connect to the real world.   When you see how this kindle book grew from Hans' desire to give his children something to think about, you can see why I'm so interested in the exercise.   I will be working with Hans to figure out a way to distribute the exercise to schools that are in need and that don't have funds for purchasing the book.   A limited exercise and lesson plan based on the book will be developed and you can request this free resource.   In exchange, please send photos and essays that your students create and give permission for Hans to share these documents and photos with other schools.    

This idea has the potential for being the "Tuesdays with Maury" for middle school and high school students.

There is the added benefit that your students will learn about Ashoka.  There's more to charity than United Way, UNICEF and Red Cross.   Send your submissions to TheEbookman@gmail.com and we'll publish together.


Conclusion:  I'm a teacher.  Do not trust that I know how to prepare your child for the future.   As Margaret Mead observed, one-third of the types of jobs have not been invented yet.  We have to prepare your children for a future that I won't live in, using words and technologies that have not yet been invented,  while using today's vocabulary.   It makes sense that I should teach your children how to learn, unlearn and relearn (Alvin Toffler's prescription).  Hans Hickler's book is a step in that direction.



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