Words of Wisdom
GANAS: In my classroom I have a banner with "ganas." It means "desire." And you have to have that desire. Ganas is when the motivation begins. That word is a strong word in my original language. Ganas replaces the word in America "gifted." I cannot accept "gifted." You're going to measure IQ -- and I say no. Any student, any [person] to me is gifted. They have something they can do, and I -- especially the students -- I hold them accountable for what they do. And that's where I make the transformation to motivate them to go for mathematics. You become "gifted" from practicing. Practice assures success. I give you a simple equation, and you do it and do it over and over, and you store that information. Escalante, Jaime Educator
Education is a disease: CATCH IT!
Education is like a disease. You can either catch it… in which case you are helplessly and continuously overcome by understanding. Or you can be immunized…usually by a bad experience at school or home. Then, even if education is sneezed in your face, you will not be bothered with it. And few have escaped the needle.
My mission, as a teacher, is to give you the disease, in spite of your immunization history.
And how do you know that you have been immunized? Here are the top ten signs you have been immunized:
10. You see your teacher as an inconvenience, a bother, to be tolerated, if that.
9. You like group work, ’cause somebody else can do most of the heavy lifting.
8. The skill you’re most proud of is the ability to look busy.
7. Your brain’s information slots are labeled “hairdos”, “pick-up trucks”, “dates” and “malls”. There is a small one labeled “math” but it’s taped shut.
6. You prefer ISS to class.
5. You favorite answer is “Ah on know” with a shrug.
4. You find yourself saying, “But teacher, this IS math. How many dates, times how much money spent on each…”
3. You look up from your cell phone only when you want to see what your friend is texting.
2. When you hear an explanation, you want to say, “Yeah, yeah, yeah. Just shut up and give us the answer.”
And then number one sign you have been immunized:
1. Immunize? What’s that? Can you repeat the question? Which number are we on?
WSuttles 2010
Math is like Legos: You can keep building until you run out of Legos, yet still you dream of bigger and better creations. Leigh Price Block 1 AFM 2/6/09
Without a question there is no answer. Mr. Suttles RHS
Be very, very careful what you put into that head, because you will never, ever get it out.
Thomas Cardinal Wolsey (1471-1530)
The key to all math: What is equal to what. Mr. Suttles RHS
"A human being is a part of a whole, called by us universe, a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings as something separated from the rest... a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty." Albert Einstein
"All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for a few good men to do nothing." Edmund Burke
"One of the greatest things you have in life is that no one has the authority to tell you what you want to be. You’re the one who’ll decide what you want to be. Respect yourself and respect the integrity of others as well. The greatest thing you have is your self image, a positive opinion of yourself. You must never let anyone take it from you." Escalante, Jaime Educator
Perhaps the most valuable result of all education is the ability to make yourself do the thing you have to do, when it ought to be done, whether you like it or not; it is the first lesson that ought to be learned; and however early a man's training begins, it is probably the last lesson that he learns thoroughly. Thomas H. Huxley (1825 - 1895)