Endless Possibilities

While listening to National Public Radio recently, I heard something stunning: the smartphones that we all carry in our pockets are each more powerful than all the computers that put men on the moon for the first time on July 20, 1969. That is simply staggering.

Consider that this year will be the 50th anniversary of that moon landing. There have been so many advances just in the space program alone. For example, in the past fifty years, NASA created, deployed, and retired the space shuttle. The first space shuttle mission lasted only two days in April of 1981, while the final mission was a total of thirteen days in July of 2011. While there were tragedies and loss of life as part of both the Apollo and the space shuttle programs, there was no way to foresee in 1969 that there would be an aircraft that could launch from earth on a rocket and return to earth landing like an airplane.

I've seen it first hand in my own family life. Last weekend, our youngest son Brendan accomplished something in his first ten years on the planet than I have yet to accomplish in my first forty-four. He will be designing a sneaker with a company in Italy. Yes, you read that sentence correctly. Brendan Ricca, a resident of Vermont, will be designing a sneaker with a company in Italy.

In 2019, there are many, many ways to tap into the passions of our students. When I was growing up, if my parents didn't have the answers to my questions, and friends of ours didn't have answers to my questions, and if my teachers didn't have the answers to my questions, there was a source available in the living room for me to look to: the World Book Encyclopedia.

No longer is that our reality, as we have such powerful resources in our pockets. Our world is shrinking smaller and smaller each day. We are able to connect with people on the other side of our planet, as easily as we connect with the person next door. This literally opens the world to our students.

As educators, the greatest investment we can receive is time. Time to know our students. If we are able to know our students well, we will be able to teach them in the way they learn best. When we teach our students the way they learn best, we improve student outcomes. Regardless of the challenges our students come to school with, we simply cannot limit what they are capable of.

Photo courtesy of www.aliveshoes.com

Who knows what they will think of next?