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THE POWER OF PERSONAL STORY !
let's time travel way back to the 1980s I'm three and a half years old lying on a gravel driveway my face ripped open I'm lying here because moments ago a dog bit me and gave me a warning he non-verbally told me to stop pestering him on this hot summer day my parents picked me up wrapped my face in a towel and rushed me to the hospital here a wizard surgeon named dr. Webber spins magic with his hands gives more than 100 stitches to me and puts me back together days later I look like this and I begin to fear looking in the mirror this face scares or at least startles my family friends and strangers too i watch how others react to my appearance I recognize this shock on their faces as they see mine I'm quickly learning about empathy II fast forward a few years I'm in second grade at San Antonio Elementary on the playground one student says throw the ball Scarface another one says you you look like Frankenstein they draw attention to how I'm different from them because of the way I look but really we are more like my friends than we are unalike as my Angela would remind us still my classmates words introduce a new kind of hurt to me it's the kind of hurt that digs into my heart not the kind of dug into my face I'm angry embarrassed frustrated but I don't name my emotions out loud I hide them like I wish I could hide my scars miss cockerel my teacher sees what I tried to hide she observes how my anger acts as a barrier to my education so she works with me to overcome my painful emotions she works with me because she cares because she's human miss cockerel teaches me that scars show we can experience pain and persevere whether internal or external our scars display we've grown beyond our wounds our scars are a powerful testament our resiliency and our natural ability to self-heal in short miss cockerel teaches me our scars make us beautiful and I begin to heal inside after I've long healed outside end of our trip down memory lane in second grade I learned about my times tables I learned reading and writing and I learned our scars make us beautiful I learned these lessons and many others from a passionate professional exceptional teacher who saw me as a human not just as her student miss cockerel straight from her lesson plan with me she gave a little more time and attention and she changed my life trajectory had she not taught me about our scars I might be a very different person today maybe I'd still be wrestling with my anger or embarrassed by my appearance or frustrated with my fate but I'm not I'm at peace because I know our scars make us beautiful thank you miss cockerel wherever you are for the way you helped set me on a path that led me here today also it's important to remember that my family reinforced this lesson with tremendous fidelity I appreciate and honor the way they've supported all my learning throughout life consider my story I told the lesson within it and imagine how I might teach it differently good afternoon class everyone please find your seats today we're learning about self-confidence what is self-confidence well it's being okay with who we are why does this matter because by overcoming challenges and negative emotions we can better focus on other parts of life like times tables reading writing and higher academic performance some helpful reminders about self-confidence our imperfections make us perfect because they make us more human and our scars make us beautiful please make a note of this as this might be on the test of life now I joke about this in an oversimplified way but you get the point when we remove humanity from lessons we remove any from learning we forget everything we study some way somehow involves real people and when we focus just on the ideas or concepts we start to distance ourselves from ourselves this type of mental conditioning can lead us to being in the box in the book leadership and self-deception the arbiter Institute defined being in the boxes seeing people as a means to an end obstacles to our goals or things to manipulate to our Vantage in contrast when we get out of the box we see people as people we honor who and how they are as humans today some conversations about education focus on being in that box students are seen as statistics and test scores numbers that must rise to our society function but what happens when we get out of the box how will our conversations change when we see students as people each as a creative being each as a personal story in my work I have the good fortune to listen to community members talk about what they value in their schools in their education and in their future they do this by sharing their personal stories and they learn as they listen to the stories of others one of the common themes that emerge from these dialogues focused on how often teachers and students switch roles and teachers end up learning just as much from students as vice-versa now I speculate these students are teaching teachers through personal story not by imparting the latest common core curriculum or referencing academic journals all this to say it's amazing when we open our minds ears and hearts how much the world will teach us next time you have a conversation about education get out of the box see students as people like Alice cockerel saw me see families teachers principals district administrators and government leaders as people too how will our discussions be different when we see all the pieces and the parts of the vast education system as people and when you have these conversations I challenge you to engage in civil public discourse if you don't know where to start why not begin with your personal story show us the beauty in your lessons and in your scars every day I carry the lesson miss cockerel and my family taught me to me my face is a reminder to be confident and humble to be mindful compassionate and patient through my personal story you learned why I think our scars make us beautiful through your personal story what lesson will you teach us
By Wiam aar2 years ago in Writers
Welcome to my Library (Table of Contents)
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Khan Estate
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Will AI Replace Fiction Writers?
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Analyzing the Dynamics and Implications of Military Officers Announcing a Coup in Gabon:
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I Got A Top Story On Vocal
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