Get an Early Lead and Hold It
The title line is from an old joke: a high school football coach tells his team the secret of winning – Get an early lead and hold it.
Many of you have asked about why it even matters to me what the Yemeni Star is all about. So I am going to tell you a secret from my childhood, a secret that got me through school with good grades.
It’s in two parts. The first is about getting an early lead – it’s called The Halo Effect and it is like getting an early lead and holding it. You work really hard and get good grades when you are young, and those early grades influence the later graders to give you the benefit of the doubt as you move up the grades. It doesn’t always work, but often enough that it has been given it’s own name.
The second secret is to develop an area of interest to YOU. For me, it was the stars. I loved (and still love!) stars, constellations, comets, heavenly rhythms, music of the planets, etc. For me it is God’s hand on this vast, cosmic scale. So I first started writing early reports on stars, constellations, etc. You know, how you have to write science projects?
From the constellations, I branched out into mythology – what a great study. So many references in daily life and literature refer to mythical beings and happenings, and if you don’t have a clue, you miss a whole level of richness. Like if someone refers to a Sisyphusian endeavor, you don’t have to run go look it up, you know they are referring to an almost impossible task. Between astronomy and mythology, there was enough material that I could take previous reports every year and ramp ’em up for the next year. I usually learned something, but the most important thing I learned was that I could succeed without having to re-invent the wheel every year.
If you can develop a particular field that interests you, your school life can be a lot more interesting. And believe me, we all know how deadening the school experience can be, unless you have really good teachers who can make it come alive for you. You have the most amazing tools available to you – a world of information, via the ‘net, and GoogleEarth – GoogleSky,, Wikipedia, and all kinds of illustrations available to add depth to your papers and reports. You are truly a generation who can have a lot of fun learning, if you take responsibility for your own education.
(Big hurrahs and shouts out here for Elijah, Swair, Magical Droplets,, MacoholicQ8, and all my other teaching friends, my classroom-warriors friends, heading back to do battle with and enlighten reluctant minds; you are my heroes!)
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you are right… a goal or a certain fixation in one’s mind would take you so far & lead to good places 🙂 dedication is the answer to everyting
Oh I am in love with mythology, it makes reading much more enjoyable when u know what they’re talking bout 🙂
Thank you so much for the hurrahs and shouts 😀 I do hope students feel the same way, I would hate to repeat what most of our school teachers did.
Thank you,Chikapappi – I bet you were one of the very focused students!
Elijah, with teachers like YOU, learning is fun, and even exciting. *does celebration dance*
i agree.
school and work are pretty much the same. if you dont have a genuine interest in what you do you’ll wind up hating every minute.
but if you can make your passion your job you’ll never “have to” “go to work/school” again.
YESSSSSSSSSSSSSS! YES, SKUNK, exactly what I was trying to say, and you said it better.
Thaaaaaannnnnkkkkk you. High 5 2 u u intlxpatr 😀
LOL @ classroom-warriors.
As a student I was never really interested in any topic which is why i was always a b student 😦 …or was i a c student? Can’t remember…nope i got a couple of A’s, but mostly B…or B-…)
The greatest teaching tip I ever received was from the professor who planted the passion of teaching in me. She said if you want to get the attention of your students you have to build a relationship with them and one way to do so is to find out what interests them. She herself hated football/soccer; but was once required to have a conversation class with nine-year-old boys. She spent a whole week before the class started learning about football, famous footballers, clubs they belong to, etc. Her students loved her.
I know for sure that if i had never had her as a professor i would have given up teaching a long time ago coz of lack of passion. She and her class made me fall deeply in love with my profession.
Ahhh, thanks for taking me down memory lane. Miss those uni years 🙂
BTW, I’m not “heading back to do battle” since i don’t teach at a school. The students are corporate clients. The battle doesn’t ever end for me 😦 …well maybe in Ramadan. Hope no deals are signed for Ramadan :)…and hope our sales manger never sees this comment 🙂
So you have a flexible teaching plan, Magical? Can you say “yes, I will teach this class” and “no, I can’t teach this class because I have a conflict?”
EVERY teacher who is in there teaching is a warrior in my book.
To ‘some’ extent yes, it is flexible. When a class is assigned, things like the teacher’s preferred timing and preferred course (ESP or General English) is taken into consideration.
Hear, hear 😀 Every teacher, instructor, or trainer is a warrior.
Hey, did you know that yesterday was Teacher’s Day in India.
I did not know that! Have a happy day, Magical!