Tag: teaching

Most influential teacher

Today’s question is who was my most influential teacher? It may seem like an odd choice, but my most influential teacher was probably my late maternal grandmother. Her children and grandchildren were her life, and most of the fundamental things I learned about this world came from her.

She was a very caring and patient teacher, and tried her best to pass on all the skills she learned growing up, including cooking, baking, weaving, crocheting, gardening, canning, sewing, and even whittling. I was a sponge for any kind of new skill. She even taught me how to whistle and sing and read the hands on a clock. I also learned how good people behave, just by watching her, and she taught me the words to my first prayer.

To tell the truth, she built a foundation inside me that’s pretty hard to dismantle, and believe me, people have tried. She was truly an angel in human form. May God bless her eternally.

Who was your most influential teacher? Did you learn any valuable skills from your grandparents? Have you passed on any of your own skills? Let me know in the comments, and remember to like, share, and subscribe!

I believe in fate.

I didn’t post this question on time, but I wanted to answer it, since I started it. The question is do I believe in fate/destiny? The answer is yes, I believe in fate and destiny.

A few years back, my life was rocked by a series of really bad happenings. During that time, there was a girl I knew who did some things that I really couldn’t understand at all. She also ended up deserting me at my lowest and it hurt me very badly, maybe worse than anyone has ever hurt me, considering all the other things that were going on at the time. Losing her marked a turning point in my life, and I wasn’t sure if I was going to recover from it.

When my life was at this lowest point, there was a girl who sudden appeared. She was a very special girl to me. She was literally the only girl who could have explained what had happened with this other girl. Not only that, but she also taught me things about myself that I didn’t even know. My whole worldview was changed as a result of those late-night conversations, and for the first time I began to see and understand a world that was completely oblivious to me prior to meeting her.

Unfortunately, I failed to repair the damage with the one who abandoned me. Eventually, her marriage failed, and she got a divorce last year. I know it caused her a great deal of pain also, so I feel immense sorrow for her. Life really isn’t fair and it’s fraught with heartbreak and suffering. I completely forgive her for any pain she caused me, and I hope she forgives me for not understanding her at the time.

I have always sort of believed in fate, and I certainly believe it was fate that brought me and this girl together. I really don’t know if I would be here today if I hadn’t met her. I owe her my life. I sincerely hope that one day fate will allow me to repay her, with interest. That is one of the things that keeps me going. Fate is unpredictable, but it certainly could happen. I’ll always be here if she needs me for anything. May God bless her eternally.

Do you believe in fate or destiny? Has there been a time in your life when the exact thing you needed seemed to appear at exactly the right time? Have you ever met someone who changed your whole perspective? Let me know in the comments, and don’t forget to like, share, and subscribe!

The trait I value most about myself.

There’s a lot of traits I have that might be considered valuable, but I don’t know that I notice them too much. They are things that other people would notice more than me, because they are external traits, not internal traits. I live on the inside, not the outside. Here are few external traits that people might notice about me.

  1. I am calm under fire. Several of the people working under me noticed this about me. They sometimes worry about the outcome, and I just stay the course unwaveringly. It is impressive to them that I am fearless and calm. When something does go astray, I gently bring it back on course. It’s an odd trait I picked up over the years. I think it also comes from shifting to a growth mindset.
  2. I have some degree of charisma. It’s not overwhelming, but if people are around me for a while, we begin to unite. I think it’s because they figure out that I’m an empathic person who listens to them, and I can also be pretty fearless under normal conditions. I once read that this is what charisma is all about. It’s a combination of presence, power, and warmth.
  3. I have extensive knowledge in a wide range of fields. I spent half of my life reading textbooks, encyclopedias, and other books. I know quite a bit about computer science, electronics, engineering, psychology, biology, philosophy, etc. I’ve even studied subjects that would be considered esoteric. This is on top of degrees in business and information technology.

If you would like to read more about charisma and the growth mindset, check out these books. You won’t be disappointed.

The Charisma Myth: How Anyone Can Master the Art and Science of Personal Magnetism

What if charisma could be taught?

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Mindset: The New Psychology of Success

After decades of research, world-renowned Stanford University psychologist Carol S. Dweck, Ph.D., discovered a simple but groundbreaking idea: the power of mindset. In this brilliant book, she shows how success in school, work, sports, the arts, and almost every area of human endeavor can be dramatically influenced by how we think about our talents and abilities. People with a fixed mindset—those who believe that abilities are fixed—are less likely to flourish than those with a growth mindset—those who believe that abilities can be developed. Mindset reveals how great parents, teachers, managers, and athletes can put this idea to use to foster outstanding accomplishment.

The trait I value the most.

After thinking about it, the trait I value most about myself isn’t any of these. The trait I value most about myself is an odd trait that is at the core of my being. I believe it might drag me down, but I still value it. If I lose it, I will lose some aspect of what makes me into the person that I am.

As I went through life, I met a couple of people along the way that I really came to love on a very deep level. When that occurred, I become very scared that something would happen to them. It caused me to try and keep them in my life and take care of them. I think a lot of people hate this type of behavior, calling it clingy, but to me this feeling is the equivalent of deep love.

I believe this is something that was accidentally taught to me growing up. My grandmother was the closest person to me in my childhood and she was very overprotective. She wouldn’t let me out of her sight for fear that I would get hit by a car, or drown in the pool, or burn myself alive, or catch some awful disease, or you name it. I heard that what was modeled to you growing up is what you think is normal, and what I experienced most was the watchful eye of caring grandparent.

This trait probably causes trouble for me because if you are one of these special people it might feel very clingy. I honestly didn’t always appreciate it growing up either, but it still translates to love in my mind. It is definitely something I like about myself, but other people may not. Basically, I want to take care of a special person and help them survive and thrive because that is how I was raised.

What trait do you value most about yourself? Are you calm under fire? Would you consider yourself charismatic? Do you have a trait that’s misunderstood? Are you a clingy person? Do you avoid clingy people? What subjects do you know the most about? Let us know in the comments, and please like, share, and subscribe! Also, thanks for reading!

What makes a great teacher?

I’m not sure what drives a teacher to do what they do, but the best teachers I had seemed to be invested in your success. They seemed like humble servants striving to educate the masses, make the world better, and help every individual become a contributing member of society. Another factor I think is important is being very passionate about the subject you teach. I believe it really comes across to the student if you are not highly interested in the subject.

It’s been fairly well established that people treat other people differently on the basis of their attractiveness.

Logan Trujillo

Some studies seem to indicate that appearance also has some influence on teacher likability and performance. It doesn’t seem fair to judge people based on the outside, but it does seem to happen quite a lot in our society. To be honest, I did seem to favor attractive teachers more growing up but didn’t consider it to be based on beauty. They honestly just seemed nicer to me.

They found that both men and women were more attracted to images of people who made eye contact and smiled than those who did not.

Ronald E. Riggio

On that topic, I have also wondered if attractiveness has a strong effect on personality development. For instance, beautiful people might actually be treated differently growing up. If a person is treated more nicely by everyone, they might assume people are genuinely nice. This might contribute to a more positive world view. Unattractive people might have faced more negativity and as a result appear less happy, which also contributes to appearance, because smiling happy faces make you look more attractive. That being said, beauty can also attract the wrong kind of attention and potentially lead to other psychology issues.

Do you think attractiveness has anything to do with teaching? Does beauty contribute to personality development and perspective? Do happy people seem more attractive to you? Do you think it’s fair to treat people differently based on beauty? Is there a dark side to being beautiful? Let me know your feelings in the comments, and don’t forget to like and subscribe!

My morning routine.

The alarm goes off, I hit snooze a full three times. I’d hit it more but after three my alarm clock just resets itself, so it won’t go off again. I hate that, but I’d just keep hitting it until 10:00 am if it kept letting me. Yea, I admit it. I am not an early riser. I can set up all night long pretty easily, but I hate the morning. I really need a job on the night shift, but the kind of work I do is largely day shift.

After I get up, I make coffee. That’s the first thing I do. I’m not quite alive without my first cup of coffee. I think I’m in this weird quantum state only partially existing in this universe, blipping on and off with brief moments of wakefulness that eventually become continuous enough to allow me to fully materialize.

Gotta get this day done so I can come home.

Sometimes I say little things in my head to motive me to actually get out of bed. It’s an odd trait maybe. I’m not sure if I asked anyone else if they do it, and I’ve been doing it so long I forget that I do it. On the good days, I probably say something like, gotta get this day done so I can come home, or gotta get a move on or I’ll be late. On a bad morning, I might say something a lot grumpier with a few expletives. As noted, I don’t fully exist before coffee, so what I say doesn’t count.

My coffee comes from a small expresso machine I have in the kitchen. Sometimes I actually make lattes with it, but in the morning, I just fill that little portafilter to the top and make expresso shots. I’m not sure how many shots that makes. I just try to max it out. That’s the only way I will get to full materialization. I mean, you don’t want to try driving when you are not fully in this universe.

There’s some degree of multitasking going on as I wait for the expresso machine to spue out its life juice. I start taking the vitamins and supplements that I take every morning. There’s a lot I must admit. I was always a vitamin taker, but over the years I added this thing or that for various claims. Some I think work pretty well, but others I’m taking might be snake oil. They have become a habit though, and habits don’t always get scrutinized, at least not daily. There would be no gain from making them a habit if you had to think about it, since a habit is teaching your brain to do repetitive things, so you don’t have to think about it. I think I repeated myself there, maybe I need more coffee.

After coffee and pills, I go to the bathroom and get everything ready for my shower, but don’t quite get in yet. The caffeine takes a little bit to kick in and I have the morning sort of timed out to account for this. After I lay out my towel, etc., I actually go back to bed for a few minutes. I have an alarm set on my phone for this one, and I can’t hit snooze. I might get a whole 15 minutes, but it depends on how long it took me to get the morning tasks done. If I get sidetracked by looking at my phone, I will lose precious moments of sleep. Those 15 minutes feel heavenly some days.

I think I hold some sort of record probably, like maybe ten solid years of being late.

After the alarm goes off on my phone, I’m in kind of a rush to shower, dress, comb my hair, brush my teeth, put on deodorant, and make the short drive to work about 15 minutes away. The coffee is finally pumping through my veins by this time, so it goes a little faster. I’m usually there about time, but honestly, I’m a little late most days. I think I hold some sort of record probably, like maybe ten solid years of being late. I’m probably exaggerating. Lots of people are late though, and many of them get to work from home and take vacation, and I’m there every day and basically on call 24/7 through my smart phone.

Are you a morning person or do you need coffee to get you going? Do you prefer to go to bed early or stay up late? Do you find sleep as blissful as I do? Do you have motivational phrases you say to yourself?

Riddles of childhood.

When I was young I had a wonderful grandmother who was a big part of my childhood memories. I could write a book on the things she taught me. One of the things she liked to do was tell me jokes, rhymes, and riddles. I believe it was what they did in their childhood before the internet.

I’m going to share here a little riddle she told me when I was a kid, just to see if you can guess it. I don’t remember hearing it from anywhere else, so I’m not sure if Google can help you. Exclusive content! Here goes.

There was an old man who lived under the moss.
Grizzle gray was his hoss.
Bend stick was his bow.
Now I’ve told you his name three times in a row.
And yet you don’t know.

What was this guys name? Can you guess? Let me know in the comments, and don’t forget to like and subscribe.