Come to the Edge

Do motivational quotes interest you? I have to admit, I’m a bit taken by them. Having read hundreds, there is one in particular that I am fond of:

‘Come to the edge,’ he said. They said, ‘We are afraid’. ‘Come to the edge’, he said. They came. He pushed them…and they flew. (Guillaume Apollinare)

When you read it what are your thoughts? For me, it’s a firm reminder that we should always trust ourselves and our abilities, especially when faced with the challenge of something unfamiliar or unknown.

In many ways it’s really a quote about everyday life. Imagine if people in our past hadn’t taken risks, explored, kept trying, or stopped asking questions. Who knows what we would be doing as a society or, more to the point, not doing.

Imagine what children experience. Every day they grow and in order to grow they are constantly faced with the unfamiliar and unknown. They live life on the edge.

Can we say the same about ourselves or our colleagues? I suspect in some instances we can…in others we can’t.

Perhaps all we need to do is stop and embrace what it is that has us stand tall as educationists. Behind every successful initiative, learning and teaching philosophy, technological advancement or new picture story book, someone took a risk – and with that risk they affected change.

That’s probably the most exhilarating thing about being an educationist. We are all different, yet no different to our students – constantly faced with new challenges. And acting on them we too are constantly soaring.

How wonderful to know that we have a choice between teacher and educationist.

As Frank Scully says, ‘Why not go out on a limb? Isn’t that where the fruit is?’

Enjoy!

Cheryl Lacey is the principal educationist at The Dialogue Group International, a firm focused on helping education services with improving learning and teaching for teachers and students.

Learn more at www.thedialoguegroup.com