have you ever been inspired by someone
or something and fail to act have you
ever wondered what if six years ago as
Jen was saying I attended my first TEDx
Rochester right here at geva I was with
my friend and co-worker Amy and a
student and he was a junior at the time
Martin as we left we were completely
blown away we were excited by the
connections we had made and the
information that we had learned with our
excitement that our energy level was
beyond palpable at that moment as we
walked away Martin looked at Amy and I
and said what if we have a TEDx at our
school Amy responded right away with why
don’t we that was the moment everything
changed embracing the power of a
question the unknown reveling that
stepping into that feeling it’s sort of
reveling in it using the questions to
flip a moment that feeling has continued
to spill into every facet of what I do I
was a traditional teacher who was afraid
to put my progressive beliefs and
practice now my classroom practices have
completely flipped I give my students
the keys and I let them we need to drive
animal almost all aspects of the classes
that I teach you choose their own
projects they create their own goals and
they find solutions to problems I guide
my students teaching them that they
matter and that they can make an impact
the questions the discomfort the unknown
and the possibilities are what drive and
motivate me oh there’s jeebus sorry I
forgot to show the slide
there’s a quote by Sydney Harris that
resonates with me every day Harris’s
regret for the things we did can be
tempered by time it is regret for the
things that we did not do that is
inconsolable Martin’s would if did not
get tossed into that pile of regrets it
is turned into our fifth consecutive
TEDx LML Columbia School we went from
offering pedx LOL colombi school as a
club to a year long class that Amy and I
co-teach it’s a it’s an amazing process
in its real work and the students often
refer to our class as a job the goal of
the class is to create TEDx and the
Columbia School as their teachers it is
our job to stay out of their way to
observe to listen to guide them we let
them learn from their mistakes and
what’s really awesome is we get to see
this transformation of our students Amy
and I also learn a lot about ourselves
along the way and what it means to be
true partners in this chaos that we have
created with our jar strengths we
support each other’s weaknesses and
their final test is TEDx ldap Columbia
School it really is an awesome process
for these kids and you know I look back
and I see the possibilities and all the
things that I sort of regret and I often
wonder you know why don’t we take
chances what is it that sort of gets in
the way doesn’t allow us to take those
risks take a minute to think about what
inspires you maybe it’s something from
today because i can tell you after
listening to what i’ve heard today who
it’s hard not to be inspired can you
recognize that moment that opportunity
that you might regret how can you flip
it and complacency opportunity from nine
to inspiring from regret to possibility
personally I’d rather live in the
unknown and not live with regret what is
your what if thank you you