At the end of my student teaching semester, one of the fellow teachers sent me home with a quote that has been my inspiration each day since:
"To be nobody but yourself in a world that is trying its best--night and day, to make you everybody else--means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight and never stop fighting."-e.e. cummings
I used to think of it as being to not worry about fitting into a crowd. I thought of it as meaning to be unique and, that I did. I shared it with my students every year nearly every day, reminding them to break the mold. And, I'm glad I did. However, I think there is a deeper meaning
Think about the day-to-day: someone cuts you off on the road and it makes you enraged and act in a way that is out of character. If we held back in a situation like that, they we could say that we are being "nobody but yourself."
Think about this on a larger, social media stance, related to digital literacy and citizenship. How can we teach students to hold up to values and standards no matter what the situation and no matter what the medium?
"To be nobody but yourself in a world that is trying its best--night and day, to make you everybody else--means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight and never stop fighting."-e.e. cummings
I used to think of it as being to not worry about fitting into a crowd. I thought of it as meaning to be unique and, that I did. I shared it with my students every year nearly every day, reminding them to break the mold. And, I'm glad I did. However, I think there is a deeper meaning
Think about the day-to-day: someone cuts you off on the road and it makes you enraged and act in a way that is out of character. If we held back in a situation like that, they we could say that we are being "nobody but yourself."
Think about this on a larger, social media stance, related to digital literacy and citizenship. How can we teach students to hold up to values and standards no matter what the situation and no matter what the medium?
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