Like every other teacher, I want to make a difference in the world.
The thought that I could make a positive difference to the life of another is both empowering and inspiring.
To do so, I seek out others making a positive difference and pay it forward, hoping that the ripple effect will carry it far and wide.
Three inspiring educators who have positively influenced me are:
Brian is an amazing literacy educator from whom I had the extreme good fortune of learning many years ago. I have written about him before here and here.
Brian’s work focused on the conditions necessary for literacy development. His influence has spread beyond the classroom with the application of the conditions to learning in the workforce demonstrated.
Tony is an amazing educator who does his best to be the change he wants to see in the world. He talks about future-proofing and using innovative thinking to solve problems of both local and global importance.
Anyone who believes ‘that education is the most important profession on the planet’ and does everything in his power to support teachers to be outstanding, as does Tony; must be pretty good in my books.
One of Tony’s books The Ripple Effect is particularly apt for mention in this post. Tony says,
“you must believe in your personal power to create ripples that spread out and change the world. In fact, if it is not you who is going to do it, then who else do you think is likely to make the effort? Remember that every change on this planet begins with a human being somewhere, somehow. It may as well be you.”
This year Tony has started a new project called The Earth Movers Foundation which ‘helps young teenagers to create solutions to local and global issues. And they get to choose their own project. No adults will be telling them what project to do. They decide for themselves.’ Sounds pretty good to me.
Ken is another amazing educator. I fell in love with his ideas when I listened to his TED talk Do schools kill creativity? which I have also shared before here.
The statement on his website declares that
“Imagination is the source of all human achievement”.
I could not argue with that.
Ken introduces this short video The writing spirit which presents quotes from artists, thinkers, writers, innovators and snippets of interviews with writers. Just incidentally, and exciting for me, Richard Bach is included. Richard is the author of Jonathan Livingston Seagull, one of my favourite books for its inspirational message.
It is more than likely that these educators have no idea how they have influenced my life (and others as a result).
How wonderful might it be to know of the positive influence you have had on someone, and to have the opportunity of letting others know that they have positively impacted your life?
This is the purpose of The Butterfly Light Award which was bestowed upon me my Lisa Reiter, a lovely lady who is herself inspirational for her courage and her positive attitude which she shares with others through her blog Sharing the story. Thank you, Lisa. I am honoured and accept with pleasure.
As with any award, it comes with conditions:
- You should write an acceptance post, making sure you link back to the blogger who awarded you and thank them. You MAY NOT lump this award in with a batch of other awards.
Thank you Lisa Reiter!
- You must individually name and re-award to a minimum of 1 and a maximum of 9999999 bloggers. You must let them know either personally with a comment on their blog OR a pingback.
As I have been writing about educators, I am going to stick with that theme. A quick visit to these blogs will explain why I have selected them.
3. You should link back to Belinda’s blog either to http://idiotwriting.wordpress.com/about/ or http://idiotwriting.wordpress.com/2014/03/13/i-love-charismatic-geeks/
Done!
- You must write a short paragraph entitled either “How I’m Spreading Light” OR “How I’m A Positive Influence” (what Lisa calls ‘the squirmy bit’).
Done! See beginning of article.
5. Display Belinda’s lovely “Butterfly Light Award” badge on your blog.
Thank you, Belinda. It’s a pleasure! We can never have too many butterflies!
Note: The beautiful framed quote, pictured at the top of this post, was made for me by a wonderful lady, the mother of two of my students. They all share my love of butterflies! I thank them for sharing their appreciation of my positive influence.
I welcome your feedback. Please share your thoughts about any aspect of the article.
Norah Colvin 
Pingback: Saddle Up Saloon; Chattin’ With Norah Colvin « Carrot Ranch Literary Community
Pingback: The Ripples of Life | Norah Colvin
Pingback: Shaping the future #myfirstpostrevisited | Norah Colvin
Thank you for making me feel like I make GOOD choices!!!! I still keep Cambourne’s conditions for learning in my plan book….just in case I forget (LOL). I often think of how we can and should “pay it forward” as educators and leaders in society….you are doing so…I need to follow YOU toob:)
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you, Anita. I love your comment, and appreciate your following. I’m so pleased you have Cambourne’s conditions in your plan as a reminder. Are you Australian too? I couldn’t find a location when I visited your blog.
I love what you have said about “paying it forward”. It is true with us teachers, isn’t it? We have our eyes on the future, paying it forward to the future for and through our students. However I hadn’t thought of it that way before, and appreciate the different perspective. Thank you. 🙂
LikeLike
Hi Norah – I love the insight into who and what inspires you to inspire others, that passing on of the baton. Looking forward to exploring the blogs you have nominated and have already dipped into the Nerdy Book Club (now following!) Love, Lisa x
LikeLike
I couldn’t believe the Nerdy Book Club when i found it. There is so much good stuff on there. And I love the title. Why did I just give my blog my name – not too much imagination used in that!
LikeLike
Congrats, Norah, on another well deserved award! It’s always inspiring to read your posts because you are so passionate about your subject – and nothing is more important than the next generation. Great choice of educators!
LikeLike
Thanks Teagan. It’s always lovely to have you visit and to read your comments. Thanks for sharing. 🙂
LikeLike
Norah, you certainly spread your butterfly wings wide and stretch the circle wider to include more people in the light. From the first post of yours that I read, I knew I would always return here to learn more and to find you always championing good education. Seeing who has influenced you as well as inspired you, explains a lot. The video on the Writing Spirit was a boost to watch. And Johnathon Livingston Seagull was a huge influence on me, so I was delighted to see Richard Bach, too. Congratulations on joining the ranks of all the butterflies out there–and no, we can never have too many!
LikeLike
Thanks, Charli. I really appreciate your support. We’ll have to compare notes on JLSeagull sometime. I have read a couple of other Richard Bach stories, but Jonathan is definitely my favourite. I’m pleased you enjoyed the video. 🙂
LikeLike
This was beautiful, Norah, and I agree with your paying it forward to The Nerdy Book Club! 😀
LikeLike
Thank you for visiting my blog and sharing your appreciation of The Nerdy Book Club. It’s name alone was enough to woo me!
LikeLike
I love Nerdy Book Club and the people who run it 😀 And thanks so much for following BOTH my blogs! I keep getting sidetracked from getting them properly launched. I’ve been dizzy for 3 days and have a conference this weekend I’ve been trying to prep for! You made me day 🙂
LikeLike
You are welcome! And if I understand anything, I understand getting sidetracked. I am a master of it! I hope the conference goes well and look forward to reading about it on your blog.
LikeLike
Enjoyed reading about who has inspired you, Norah, and love the quote at the start. And glad you’ve been able to pass on the award to some inspiring FEMALE teachers. I’m sure that you are an inspiration to many.
LikeLike
Thanks for your comment Anne. I appreciate your support. I must admit I did think about my choice of three male educators and whether I should be more inclusive. There are many inspiring female educators as well. Maybe I’ll have to do a post about them!
LikeLike
Thank you for sharing…and yeah…we can NEVER ever have too many butterflies! 😀
LikeLike
Thanks for visiting my blog, and for initiating this lovely butterfly award.
LikeLike
A pleasure!
LikeLike
🙂
LikeLike
What a great list Nor – inspiring educators. Disappointingly for me, it seemed like something less than usual; a list of great educators. I suppose that might reflect how society takes for granted those people who are so instrumental in shaping a positive future! I certainly can think of an inspiring educator – you!
LikeLike
Hi Bec. Thanks for your kind comment. I’m not sure what you found disappointing. What was less than usual? Did you think three was not enough? Rosie added three in her comment. My list was certainly not exhaustive. There are many more than that. Perhaps that’s an idea for future posts – a series about inspiring educators!
LikeLike
Oops! Sorry Nor, I didn’t explain my comment very well! I meant that it seems disappointing that, to me, a list of inspiring educators is unusual. We are used to inspiring sportspeople, champions of humanitarian causes, and business leaders, but educators seem to be left out of the public sphere of celebration. There was nothing about this post which was disappointing! Sorry for my poor phrasing!
LikeLike
That’s okay, Bec. Thanks for clarifying, but it was probably my understanding. I have been ‘inspired’ to write about more inspirational educators. Look out for 4 fabulous female educators – coming up soon!
LikeLike
Hi Norah,
An interesting list…Cambourne, Robinson and Tony Ryan. Interesting to reflect upon who has influenced our thinking as educators..what lasting effects they have had on us, our pedagogy and our lives.
I have to also thank de Bono and Bloom along with Maslow and there are a few others.
This helps us to think about paying it forward as you say…what do we do to pay it forward? I am enjoying some contact with my young mentee in Indonesia and some lecturers at an Indonesian university..working with them to reflect upon their practices and thinking…and yes all of the above influences are in our discussions.
LikeLike
Hi Rosie,
Thanks for your comment. Have you returned from your travels?
I see your three and raise you 3 more!! I had to stop somewhere. I thought 3 was a good start!
How wonderful for your mentee and the lecturers to be able to benefit from the wealth of your experience and knowledge. That is a superb way of ‘paying it forward’. I was simply thinking of the interactions with our students, and everyone we meet. Working with educators, as you do, multiplies the harvest!
LikeLike