Posts filed under 'Art of Teaching'
This post contains the chapter titles to Steppin’ Out Of The Darkness, “When Good People Become Great.” As time permits, I will begin inserting brief excerpts from each chapter of this introspective, inspirational story about “personal leadership” to inspire you to take the next step necessary to make your “Big Dream” come true.
In the meantime, please feel free to peruse “The Archives” to see how far this humbled beginner has come by faith since January 1, 2007. I didn’t “choose to write this book.” Over 10 years ago, this thought-provoking, 272 page book chose me. If I can beat the odds with God’s help and choose to “keep risin’ to my feet after every fall I survived,” you can do the same. The choice to do so will always be yours alone to make. So choose wisely.
“But by grace still go I.”
The Prologue — “Always Expect The Unexpected”
Chapter 1– “Working Together For Good”
Chapter 2 — “Back To Square One”
Chapter 3 — “How The Story Begins”
Chapter 4 — “The Importance Of Struggle”
Chapter 5 — “Joy, Peace, And Good Feelings”
Chapter 6 — “Distractions, Distractions, Distractions”
Chapter 7 — “Detoured, Detained, But Not Denied”
Chapter 8 — “After The Fall”
Chapter 9 — “The Greatest Lie Ever Told”
Chapter 10 — “The Seeds Of Self-Hatred”
Chapter 11 — “Crossing Jordan’s River”
Chapter 12 — “To Whom Little Appears Given”
Chapter 13 — “Heart-Breaking, Heart-Broken, But Hopeful”
Chapter 14 — “Dry Bones, Abandoned Visions, And Forgotten Dreams”
Chapter 15 — “Pain And Pleasure”
Chapter 16 — “Without Respect And Confidence”
Chapter 17 — “A Three Word Revelation”
Chapter 18 — “The Gift Of Greatness”
Chapter 19 — “One Root, One Tree, One Fruit”
Chapter 20 — “Lessons Lived And Learned”
Chapter 21 — “A Preview Of Coming Attractions”
Chapter 22 — “Despise Not Humbled Beginners”
Epilogue — “Talent Alone Is Not Enough™”
Quick question. Which one of the aforementioned chapter titles inspired you to sit up in your seat and say “Hmmmm” when you first saw it? When time permits, please post a comment to let me know which one has peaked your curiosity the most.
Copyright © 2007-2008 by Roderick O. Solomon. All Rights Reserved.
Popularity: 38% [?]
June 1st, 2008
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Steppin’ Out Of The Darkness, “When Good People Become Great” started shipping May 6, 2008. My gratitude to all whom have already invested in their “autographed copies” is beyond words. Click on “Always Expect The Unexpected” to read the Prologue to this introspective, inspirational story about personal leadership.
Click Here To View Back Cover
** Note: This is a “Sticky Post.” Please scroll through the “Calendar” atop the sidebar on my Home page to locate all the previous posts stored in my archives.
Copyright © 2007-08 by Roderick O. Solomon. All Rights Reserved.
Popularity: 79% [?]
December 17th, 2007
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“Intelligence plus character — that is the goal of true education.”
–Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Popularity: 15% [?]
July 26th, 2007
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As many of you know, I’ve been in the process of birthing my big dream, but it doesn’t want to cooperate. For all the new members to our culturally diverse group of critical thinkers, my big dream is the pending release of my first reality-based novel which bears the same name as this site. It’s no secret that I’ve been carrying around the weight of this ever evolving literary project for over 10 years.
Yes, there have been many days when I’ve felt like giving up and quitting. But my faith in God has brought me too far to turn back now and feelings can be deceiving. Besides, meeting the “greatness of God’s faithfulness” has made it impossible for me to lose hope and abandon my vision and forget my big dream. In the meantime, what do we choose to do while we’re waiting on the Lord to open doors and windows no mortal hand can close? If you’re a writer, keep writing. Do some additional research. The faithful remain hopeful.
Use the extra time to see if there’s a better way, a more cost effective way, an unforeseen way to make your big dream come true. But whatever you do, don’t take your eyes off Jesus like Peter did and start looking at the winds of Adversity when they begin to blow. Isn’t it interesting that as long as Peter stayed focused on Jesus, he managed to do the impossible by “walking on the water.” Quick question. Who or what are you still allowing to distract you, to annoy you, to wear you down, to discourage you, to hinder you, just to keep you from doing what God created you to do with excellence?
Can it be that our “fear of failure” is still keeping many of us from getting out of the boat of what’s giving us a false sense of security? Since the first day of this unpredictable “year of firsts,” how many times have I challenged each of you to keep getting up, showing up, and pushing past the pain? How many times have I tried to encourage and inspire you to believe that we can help each other achieve great things with God’s help? Quit? Never. Give up? It’s not going to happen. I’m too close to finishing the task that my skeptical antagonists alleged was impossible for somebody like me to do.
When our big dreams don’t cooperate, what should we do during those “dark days and lonely nights when all seems lost?” Cry if you must but trust God absent any reservations. Quitting is never an option if you honestly believe that you were born to write or do what you’re doing now. Remember, God’s delay does not always mean that your big dream has been denied. I’ve learned not to argue with God when the answer to a prayer is “no.” Sometimes God’s no is an indication that now is not the time. One never knows how close they came to succeeding until after they give up and quit. Matters not what happens after our big dreams refuse to cooperate, trust God anyway.
Besides, not doing so would also make me a “hypocrite” since the main character of Steppin’ Out Of The Darkness, “When Good People Become Great,” is faced with the same adverse circumstances, unforeseen obstacles, and character building challenges I’m struggling to overcome now. If time permits, you can read a brief excerpt from an earlier version of the “revised” chapter, “Sun Dried Bones, Abandoned Visions, And Forgotten Dreams,” to see how the protagonist responds to what he discovers in this modern day “valley of dried bones.” You’ll have to wait a little longer to see what additional editing can do to make a manuscript worthy of your prospective readers’ time, respect, and hard earned money.
Having a quiet talk with God in my secret place usually puts me at peace whenever the invisible fist of Adversity strikes. Reading the Word of God always works for me when I don’t understand the reasons why now is not the time. According to Ecclesiastes 3:1-22 NIV, “There is a time” and a season for everything that happens on either side of the “Great Spiritual Divide.” Do you mind sharing some of your favorite Scriptures that have inspired you to “keep risin’ after every fall?” For those of you who aren’t “Christians” or faithful followers of the Christ, which means “the Anointed One,” what do you do during your darkest night of the soul?
I can still recall all the days God made me experience whatever I was going to teach during my in home Bible studies to see if my actions spoke louder than my words. As you know, “a faith that cannot be tested is a faith that cannot be trusted.” Is my faith in God being tested and strengthened right now? Most definitely. But God has never let me down. Tonight, I’ll have to search for the poem that talks about what happens when we pray for faith but God gives us more challenges to overcome. If you already have a copy of what I’m seeking, let me know where I can find it. When all else fails, all you can you do is “stand.” Just be careful where you choose to stand.
To illustrate what I mean, here’s a verse from the popular hymn, “The Solid Rock.”
“On Christ the solid rock I stand. All other ground is sinking sand.”
© Copyright 2007 by Roderick O. Solomon. All Rights Reserved.
Popularity: 13% [?]
April 6th, 2007
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“Train up a child in the way he should go [and in keeping with his individual gift or bent], and when he is old he will not depart from it. [Eph. 6:4; II Tim. 3:15.]”
Proverbs 22:6 The Amplified Bible
Popularity: 17% [?]
April 2nd, 2007
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Pedagogy is a word I discovered in the 1990’s while preparing to address a group of students with undeclared majors at California State University at Los Angeles. For all who failed to bring your dictionaries, Pedagogy is a word I use to refer to the science, or art, of “teaching teachers how to teach.” Excellence in the profession of Pedagogy has gifted generations of great people with the keys that unlocked the doors the invisible fist of Ignorance previously closed for all the wrong reasons.
The insightful teachers I’ve observed practicing their excellence verified the veracity of the popular belief that one can’t teach what one doesn’t know. Try it. Teaching anything for the first time is a humbling and frightening experience. Nevertheless, the only way to know how to teach “something” is to do the “something” you’re trying to teach. I honestly believe that one too many of America’s teachers are frequently “overworked,” “underpaid,” and “taken for granted.” God willing, this, too, shall pass before our “unsung heroes and sheroes” become endangered absentees that no global economy can afford to absorb.
For me, sitting down and writing these daily messages that are worth reading from scratch is one example of why it takes courage to teach something new. Dig deep into my archives and look at the previous posts that began on January 1, 2007. Go ahead. Laugh. I did. Besides, it’s healthy to laugh at ourselves. Our pessimistic peers, cynical critics, and the politically motivated pundits may laugh at us and hate us today for daring to think critically. But keep pushing past the pain anyway. More times than not, children will teach teachers more than we ever thought we taught them. “Forrest Gump” did.
” No Struggle. No Strength.”
Hopefully, those of you who keep getting up and showing up daily will see the outpouring of love that inspires each message before you notice the mistakes. Our families, friends, and the people we love and respect may criticize us as we practice our excellence and despise our humble beginnings today. Keep digging deeper and climbing higher anyway. Despite all the ridicule, rejection, and laughter, I’m glad I did. Are you? I hope so. Since I choose to live the rest of my life for an audience of One, I refuse to give less than my best. Besides, “I can’t accept not trying.” Can you?
“If you do your best, God will do the rest.”
Switching to Firefox 2.0 has enabled me to eliminate most of the careless spelling errors “on the fly” while struggling to write a message I hope is worth reading. Once those of us us who dare to teach in non-traditional ways know better, we’ll do better. God willing, our galvanized group still has “300 days” before we meet for the last time during this “unpredictable year of firsts. Only God knows what day 365 of 2007 will bring our way before we ring out the old and enter into the uncharted waters of 2008. In the meantime, what are you teaching others about yourself? Think about it.
Quick question. Are you faithful over little things? December 31, 2007 is still about “7200 hours” or “432,00 minutes” or “25,920,000″ seconds ” away from where we are today. Time will tell if your actions shall speak louder than your words. It’s never too late to begin and always too soon to quit. Matters not what our peers, critics, and talking heads may say about your humble beginnings today. “So, they told you, ‘No!’ Keep on steppin’.” One of the bookmarks from THE LEADERSHIP BY EXAMPLE COLLECTION™ that I created and produced to inspire elementary, middle, and high school students says,
“To win, one must begin. If not now, when?”
As a former enlisted member of the U.S. Air Force, the excellent training I received reinforced my honest belief that mediocrity is simply unacceptable. Since I can do better, I still have a long way to go before I can think on my feet fast enough to write these dailies with excellence. Nevertheless, pushing past the pain has improved my ability to teach, absent any written notes, what Adversity taught me during my season of “sunny-side-down days.” Hence, I’m a lot closer to making my big dream come true and achieving great things today than 65 days ago when this ever-evolving site got birthed from scratch.
Absent the assistance of an insightful teacher, how many of us would have the specialized skill sets we need to excel and succeed today? Minus these insightful mentors, how many of us would be able to rise above the rim of mediocrity on the elevator of excellence? In an ever-evolving global marketplace, excellence in the profession of Pedagogy is rapidly becoming the “minimum mandatory prerequisite.” Minus effective, meaningful access to excellent teachers locally, our children will fail to gain equal access to the emerging global economies that are rapidly reshaping the landscape of the business world.
I’m still amazed by the amount of time and effort it takes for insightful teachers to conduct the additional research that’s required for a teacher to teach anything with excellence. Acquiring the wisdom and understanding to achieve excellence in any specialized, professional field of endeavor is never an easy task. Try it. Arduous? Yes! Impossible? No. In a global marketplace, both knowledge and information are rapidly becoming more valuable than ever before. A teacher’s ability to achieve excellence while teaching our children is both mandatory and necessary. I have nothing but love and respect for Ms. Marva Collins. Click on the name of this living legend if you aren’t familiar with this master teacher’s awe inspiring story.
Because of a teacher who mastered the art, or science, of teaching, how many of us honestly believe that we can beat impossible odds and achieve greatness with God’s help? As a sign of respect, I tip my hat to any person who has the courage to teach other teachers how to teach. Matters not the colour of that teacher’s beautiful skin. Our teachers deserve all the love and respect we can give them. Besides, it’s time to reward excellent teachers who have mastered the art of teaching others how to teach.
Copyright 2007 by Roderick O. Solomon. All Rights Reserved.
Popularity: 30% [?]
