Best teachers are eager to inspire students

Some more inspiring quotes, this time from teacher-turned-journalist Bev Davis of the Register-Herald in West Virginia:

- “A master can tell you what he expects of you. A teacher, though, awakens your own expectations.” — Patricia Neal

- “The mediocre teacher tells. The good teacher explains. The superior teacher demonstrates. The great teacher inspires.” — William Arthur Ward

- “I cannot teach anybody anything, I can only make them think.” — Socrates

Article: http://www.register-herald.com/features/local_story_233214746.html?keyword=topstory

Ron Clark's Message is Universal

Atlanta is lucky to have the Ron Clark Academy based here.

Clark's message needs to be internalized by K-12 teachers and college professors, as the new school year approaches:

"If we can't be innovative in our classrooms, how can we expect our students to be innovative in life?"

Recent interview: http://www.pnj.com/article/20090814/NEWS01/908140326

On the web: http://www.ronclarkacademy.com/

Amazonian Prices

I just looked on Amazon and discovered the following prices for my book listed by independent sellers:

$28.89
+ $3.99shipping
New

$30.73
+ $3.99shipping
New

$38.44
+ $3.99shipping
New

$30.73
+ $3.99shipping
Used - Very Good

Any takers?

The book retails for $12.95 - Amazon charges a modest $11.01 ($3.99 shipping) for the book http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1934938246/sr=8-1/qid=1250276742/ref=olp_product_details?ie=UTF8&me=&qid=1250276742&sr=8-1&seller=

Or purchase directly from the publisher for $10.36 ($3.23 shipping) - enter Promo Code "RUBBER: to receive this 20% off discount.

https://www.mybookorders.com/order/default.aspx?siteid=214

Educator Starts 59th Year Of Teaching

This guy REALLY must like Math. 59 years!

"As long as I feel good, I have nothing else that I aspire to do except to be with young people and teach," said Sylvester Franklin.

Mr. Franklin has only missed two days of classes in that entire time.

http://www.newson6.com/global/story.asp?s=10893401

Inspiring Quotes for Teachers

To start off the new semester, here are some great quotes to pump up teachers:

"Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement, nothing can be done without hope and confidence." -- Helen Keller

"Once children learn how to learn, nothing is going to narrow their mind. The essence of teaching is to make learning contagious, to have one idea spark another." -- Marva Collins

"They may forget what you said but they will never forget how you made them feel." - Carol Buchner

"Much education today is monumentally ineffective. All too often we are giving young people cut flowers when we should be teaching them to grow their own plants." -- John Gardner

Bluto (Animal House): "Seven years of college down the drain."

Thornton Melon (Rodney Dangerfield in Back to School): "Good teacher. He really seems to care. About what I have no idea."

An Unfailing Belief in the Power of Teaching

An inspiring article from 2006, about a Harvard Law School graduate who left a Wall Street law firm to become an educator.

...Dr. Alonso’s realm is the mystical art of teaching young minds. Reflecting on this, in an interview at the Education Department headquarters in Lower Manhattan, Dr. Alonso quoted the Spanish poet and philosopher Miguel de Unamuno. “At some point, it is inevitable that you find yourself and it is up to you to determine whether that moment, that encounter will be about gladness or about sorrow.”

Full Text: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/26/education/26face.html

Rod Serling's Inspiring Graduation Speech - 1968

Have you ever watched Twilight Zone re-runs on TV? Serling, who wrote 92 of the 156 scripts, had a flair for the written word. Part of his childhood was spent in Binghamton, N.Y., where I attended college. The influence of upstate New York is evident in a handful of his scripts.

Twenty five years after his own high school graduation, he returned to his alma mater to deliver one of the most inspiring and timeless speeches you'll ever read.

Excerpt from Binghamton High School Commencement Speech, 1968:

... always do the things that you believe. Don't become monuments—sway with the wind. Change opinions, if the change is natural and believed. But believe in something and fight for those beliefs. Honor them by your commitment. Further them by your effort.

And what a wondrous and what an incredibly grand world you might build for your children. Now this millennium may not be in sight, let alone in reach. The route to it may be pretty damned close to impassible. It may be as distant and as complicated to reach as the moon or another solar system. BUT IT IS THERE! It's there for the taking, the asking and the fighting. And the rhetorical question—are you tough enough—I think is already answered by simply the look of you and the feeling that's in the room. Indeed, you're tough enough. And you're also human enough and sensitive enough and caring enough.

Full text: http://www.rodserling.com/01281968.htm

Keeping a Clean Rubber Room

How do you keep track of a book's readers? By the products they buy on Amazon.

I'm proud to say that UYRR readers pay great attention to personal hygiene and cleanliness.

Customers Who Bought UYRR Today Also Bought:

The Original California Mini Duster

and a few weeks ago...

Waterpik Ultra Dental Water Jet

I'm now inspired to clean up my own act.

Recent Book Review

Jim Pawlak of The Dallas Morning News was kind enough to review "Unlocking Your Rubber Room":

Dallas Morning News
Binder's 44 Lessons "make so much sense."
Free registration: http://tinyurl.com/kwkpsy

Reprinted in:
The Sillicon Valley/San Jose Business Journal
http://sanjose.bizjournals.com/sanjose/stories/2009/07/06/smallb2.html

The Denton Record Chronicle
http://tinyurl.com/lzf65t

WFAA.com
http://tinyurl.com/lnyz3s

Top Ten Inspirational Graduation Speeches

From: http://www.graduationwisdom.com/speeches/topten.htm

TOP TEN SPEECHES

1. Steve Jobs at Stanford, 2006

2. Jerry Zucker at University of Wisconsin, 2003

3. Mark Lewis at University of Texas Austin, 2000

4. David Foster Wallace at Kenyon College, 2005
5. John Walsh at Wheaton College, 2000

6. Michael Uslan at Indiana University, 2006

7. David L. Calhoun at Virgina Tech, 2005
8. Earl Bakken at University of Hawaii, 2004
9. Bradley Whitford at University of Wisconsin - Madison, 2006.
10. Woody Hayes at Ohio State University, 1986.