The prologue of a million dollar teacher

Posted on 29 May 2010 03:34am in Education, Inspiration, Empowerment

I am often called by schools to interview teachers for them. It’s not an easy job because schools are not just looking for someone who knows the subject and who can teach. They want an educator, psychologist, paramedic, public speaker, motivator, career counselor, youth advisor, child specialist and what not, all rolled into one, called a teacher.

“You can't find a teacher like that, someone with all those qualities,” you may say. “It’s impossible.”

But I know it’s possible. If you are a teacher you should know. You are one such person already. You’re teaching your subject, watching for learning problems, dealing with all kinds of parents, helping your students with pertinent issues like peer pressure and bullying, building their self-esteem, providing opportunities for decision-making, guiding them through critical life choices… you’re doing everything! It’s all a part of the package of being a teacher.
That’s why everybody can't be a teacher. It’s the special few who can and who choose to teach. For the rest of them, there are other professions.

My job at the interview is to identify and take in those special few with the guts to teach. I’m glad that I always find them, and I am gladder that their number is ever increasing. More and more of these (special breed of) individuals are joining the profession, and helping to transform the very nature of teaching and learning.

Teachers around the world are bringing in a new evolution in education. I can see the change happening before my eyes.

I could see the same vision of change in the eyes of the young man seated in front of me at the last interview. I didn’t much look into the folder of credentials he had submitted; I could see in his eyes a reflection of the passion of his heart. His words too echoed that same passion. He was raring to teach.

I wanted to hire him, but I couldn’t tell him so immediately. I was apprehensive about the pay. The school was offering a handsome pay, no doubt, but this gentleman was worth a lot more than that. I even had a wicked thought momentarily that this gentleman should have applied for some other profession where he would be far better off financially. But then, he wanted to be a teacher and the school was in need of one like him. I told him he was hired and what his salary would be.

He happily accepted the offer and I heaved a sigh of relief. Then I asked him, “What can the school expect of you?”

He replied:

“You can expect me to teach as if I were paid a million dollars. How can I teach anything less than that?”

Indeed, how could he! How could he teach anything less than his very best! I almost stood up to give an ovation to this remarkable person who was going to be a teacher.

He reminded me of my own teacher from school - a million dollar teacher. You will hear a lot about him in this book. The title itself is in honor of him.

This new teacher (his name was David) sounded equally worthy and had all the trappings of a great teacher.

I visited him in the school a few months after this interview to see how he was doing. I was truly amazed by his performance. He had an almost uncanny ability to take a class of ordinary kids and turn them into geniuses and champions, no less. He was indeed a great teacher.

We'll see more of him in the first chapter:

a true alchemist


I hired four teachers that day. The second was Fatima, a middle-aged woman with 20 years of experience with her.

I was impressed by the range of knowledge and skills she had. I could tell that she was an avid reader who had read almost every book that a teacher should read. (I have listed some of these books on page 140.)

“You’re hired,” I told her, “Ms... .” I faltered. I just couldn’t recall her name, and looked blankly at her.

“I’m Fatima,” she quickly said. Then she did an amazing thing – something that doesn’t usually happen at an interview. She taught me an easy way to remember names. Then she ran me through some interesting memory methods such as visual linking and number-rhyme system. In less than 40 minutes, she had given me one of the most impressive lessons in effective learning that I’ve remembered and applied ever since.

You’ll read about her methods in chapter two:

a wizard in the classroom


The third teacher that I was privileged to appoint that day was Arun, who looked and talked like Gandhi, and incidentally, he was born the day Gandhi was shot dead. Yes, he was more than 60, but he was as active as a 16-year-old boy and had the keenness of a six-year-old kid.

As he was telling me how he would like to foster creativity in students, I couldn’t help remembering my million dollar teacher. He always taught us to use our imagination and creativity and had us learn by exploring, experimenting and discovering things for ourselves. I began to wonder how we could make our classrooms more like his. We studied in bamboo and straw shanties back then, sitting on the floor, but our classrooms were laboratories of exploration and discovery.

I suddenly realized that Arun had stopped talking and was looking at me interestedly with a knowing smile on his face.

“Please continue, sir, I’m listening,” I said.

“Well, you haven’t been listening really,” he told me nonchalantly. “You remembered something or someone from the past, and then you started talking to yourself. I was waiting for you to finish with that.”

I was shocked. How did he know what I was thinking?

“Eyes,” he told me. “Words can lie but eyes will always tell the truth. I was looking at the movement of your eyes and I could tell what was going on in your mind.”

Good heavens! How handy that would be to catch your students with their occasional little lies and lame excuses!

“That’s a great feat,” I complimented him. “I wish I knew how to do the same.”

“Oh, it’s a simple little trick that I can teach you in five minutes,” he replied.

I’ll be sharing quite a bit of Arun’s wonderful strategies in the chapter titled:

a master communicator


Mei was next. It was an intriguing interview with her.

Mei asked me more questions about the school and how sincere we were about really preparing the students for their future than I ever got the chance to ask her about herself. When I finally showed my interest in hiring her, she told me something that no interviewer may have ever heard from an interviewee.

“Oh, you can't hire me,” she said tersely.

“What do you mean?” I asked, most surprised. She was here for a job and what did she mean that I couldn’t hire her!

“Let me teach for a week for free’” she said. “I must practically prove how valuable I could be for the school. Then you can decide whether to continue my services for a charge.”

I really liked her idea. “That’s all right,” I said. “We’ll watch you for a week and then hire you if we are satisfied.”

“No,” she retorted. “If you decide to take my services, then in fact I’d be hiring you to pay me.”

Then she explained it to me more clearly. She thought of herself as a teacher and not as an employee. An employee could be hired and fired, but a teacher always remained a teacher.

Mei liked to believe that as a teacher she cold always learn, improve and upgrade herself and offer her services for better charges. She didn’t want to be an employee who was stuck in one place and got paid a certain amount whether one improved or not.

I couldn’t agree with her more.

Just as she proposed, Mei taught for free for a week. In that time, she won the hearts of the students and the trust of the administrators. She proved herself so valuable that the school couldn’t afford not to hire her. Or, in her words, she hired the school to take her services!

She remained with the school just for a year. But in that one year she gave the school what it hadn’t got in 10 years. She established a unique culture in the school and left behind a lasting legacy. You’ll get to read about her unique ways in chapter four:

a friend, philosopher and guide


The final candidate was Sergey.

“If there’s one thing that you’d like to change about our education system, what would it be?” I asked him.

“I’d do away with the testing system,” he replied. “No examinations whatsoever.”

That was a bold statement. How would we ever know whether the students really learned if there were no tests and exams? I asked him to explain.

In reply, he opened an album that he had brought along and he showed me a collection of photographs.

The photos spoke volumes about what this teacher was doing to make a significant difference in the lives of his students. He wasn’t teaching them so that he could test and grade them at the end of each term; instead, he was preparing them for life!

I just needed to have him at the school. He could be a wonderful agent of change – a positive change that would impact not only the school but also the society around it.

You’ll read about some of his wonderful ways in the last chapter:

a rebel with a cause


The interview was over but my relationship with these wonderful teachers wasn’t. I felt a deep connection with them. I couldn't wait to see them in action. I wanted to see how they would create their little miracles in the classroom and beyond.

They were all so much like my own teacher from school – the million dollar teacher. He came to our village (which was a grueling five-day walk from the nearest motorway) one day out of nowhere, collected a few kids and adults, sat under a tree and started teaching! In three years, he had established a fully functional school, galvanized the society to the cause of education, filled us with hope and dreams, given us enough reasons to excel and achieve, and then … he left.
We never saw him again.

I am always looking for him. I search him in the eyes of every teacher I meet. I seek his qualities in the teachers I interview. Maybe I am expecting too much. Or maybe not, because wherever I go, whichever school I visit, I always find a million dollar teacher teaching in a corner classroom, inspiring the students to greatness, instilling hope and dreams for the future, showing them reasons and ways to excel and achieve. I find them watching for learning problems, dealing with tough parents, helping students with pertinent issues like peer pressure and bullying, building their self-esteem, providing opportunities for decision-making, guiding them through critical life choices… they’re doing all they can!

How would these five teachers (David, Fatima, Arun, Mei and Sergey) do? How would they awaken genius, power and magic in the classroom? How would they light the fire in their students? How would they transform the world around them?

Join me in the following chapters to find out.

A fantastic tale to delight your heart and ignite your soul

Life skills for young people

An unconventional guide to exceptional teaching

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Who reads Little Master?

Posted on 13 July 2009 10:49pm in Inspiration

When I first started writing Little Master, I never thought the book would appeal to readers of all ages. I was expecting that my readers would be mostly school-going kids, and possibly some conscientious teachers and parents. After all, it was going to be a story about a lost and lonely schoolboy who ‘escapes’ school and goes on a marvelous voyage of self-discovery. He uncovers the amazing secrets of learning and the wonderful secrets of life. It’s all about exploration, learning and discovery that perhaps only kids would be interested in.

That’s what I thought and I’m glad that I was wrong.

I find adults reading, enjoying and being enriched by this book just as much as the kids are. I meet college students who say their life took a new course after they read the book. I hear from teachers and parents almost every day how the book changed the way they look at children, how they see, treat and teach them. And of course the kids, they’re never the same after they’ve read the book. For they’ve now found a new meaning in life and a whole new purpose to learning.

So now when someone asks me who the book is for, I boldly say, “It’s for everyone” and I mean it. Because there really is something in Little Master for everyone, whether a learner, a teacher, a parent, a youngster or an adult.

Learners
No real learning can take place when you are caught in a whirlpool of tests, grades, degrees and certificates. That's not learning. That's madness. True learning explores your genius and inspires you to greatness. Little Master can be your guide.

Teachers
There are plenty of things for teachers. There is in fact a complete chapter dedicated to you - What a teacher! You shape the destiny of countless lives and you literally steer the course of the world. You carry in your hand a staff of greatness, a true magic wand. Don't ever let your magic wand turn into a cane of torture, a devil's weapon! You can let Little Master remind you, now and then, when you are unsure or tend to falter.

Parents
The greatest healers in the world - that's the chapter for parents. Why healers? Read it and you will know. You are healers when you know. Surely you have seen parents who are killers - they murder their children's greatness without the slightest compunction. That's what can happen when you don't know.

Youngsters
Hormones, society and so many other things can play havoc on your life when you are young and growing. You could easily lose direction, and you could even commit dreadful acts out of ignorance. But when you know your own greatness, petty things lose their sting. Reading Little Master can help, truly.

Adults
No matter how old you are, there's a kid in you, alive and kicking. Or has that kid already died? If he/she has, then revive him/her. An adult is no adult if they have no kid in them. Read Little Master and let the kid in you come alive one more time, full of wonder, amazement and questions - questions that you have either forgotten to ask or are too scared to ask. You get the answer only when you ask.

So there you see, Little Master a book for everyone. And it’s no wonder. Packed within its 108 pages is ageless wisdom and timeless inspiration told in the form of a fascinating tale that both young and old can enjoy. I even dare say, and hopefully without bias, that if you want to read just one book in your lifetime, make it Little Master. You’ll do yourself a lot of good.

Happy reading.

A fantastic tale to delight your heart and ignite your soul

Life skills for young people

An unconventional guide to exceptional teaching

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The tale of a firewalker

Posted on 08 June 2009 09:16am in Inspiration, Empowerment

Can anyone actually walk barefoot across a bed of red hot burning coals and not get hurt? Is it possible to take your shoes off and walk on a heap of broken beer bottles without getting a cut on your feet? Fakirs and monks from the east have been known to have achieved such feats, but how about mere mortals like you and me?

Well, I did both and lived to tell the tale and share the lessons I learned.


The first time I ever heard of firewalking was from Indra Gurung, an HR trainer and friend of mine. He had participated in one of Anthony Robbins’ firewalking seminars in Manila some years back and would often talk of his experience. I used to think to myself, don’t some people have anything better to do than walk on fire?

But then, a few days back I found myself staring at a 12-feet stretch of embers and flame, ready to take the steps. Do you think I was scared? Or was I enthusiastic and eagerly waiting for the countdown from my coach? Honestly, I was filled with Fear (yes, with a capital F), and how I wished I could just run away from the scene. But then there was no escape, with more than a hundred people cheering and prodding me from all directions. I did the 12 feet marathon and when I reached the other end there was a winning smile on my lips and not a tiniest burn on my feet.

Then I did something else. I walked over a pile of broken glass strewn on the floor, and I did it without so much as a scratch on my feet.


Tall tale? No. There was not a scar on the feet of any of the people who went through the experience. I was not an exception.

How did we do it? And why did we do it? Why would anyone in their senses ever want to walk barefoot on fire, or glass, or ice, or whatever for that matter?

Let me explain.

How is it possible?
Most promoters of fire and glass walk emphasize that you need to be in a special mental state or have an unwavering belief in order to prevent the hot coals from burning and the sharp glass edges from cutting your feet. Critics quickly point out that neither firewalk nor glasswalk has anything to do with the power of the mind, and it doesn’t really require any special mental state or ability; it all has to do with basic physics.

Going by the laws of physics, the reason you can walk on burning coals is that they are poor conductors of heat. It is the same reason why you can touch a cake baking inside an oven without being burned, but you can’t touch a metal plate inside the same oven.

Similarly, it is subtle pressure management when it comes to broken glass walk. A bed of glass is prepared with sufficient depth for the glass to be able to shift and settle as a foot is planted slowly and directly down upon it. This is somewhat similar to pressing a sharp knife with the flat of the blade against one's flesh, where considerable force may be used without injury.

A word of caution though, no matter how much physics or logic you apply, there are definitely serious risks involved in both fire and glass walks. So do not try any of them at home! To make matters clearer, swimming across a 12-feet deep pool is possible by all laws of physics, but you wouldn’t take the plunge unless you know how to swim or you have an experienced coach to guide you through the process.

Why would you do it?
In certain tribes such a practice is a part of the ritual that you can’t escape, and for the ascetics it may be a form of penance and surrender. As for Tony Robbins, Suresh Padmanavan (whose event we attended) and other life coaches, getting people to walk barefooted across a bed of red hot coals or a pile of broken glass is a way of driving home some valuable life lessons.

These people use fire or glass walk as a tool to demonstrate it to people how they can overcome their fears and limiting beliefs.

One of the most important sets of beliefs that we have are the beliefs about possibilities and impossibilities in life and these beliefs influence not only our choices, behavior and actions, but also the risks that we take and what we are willing to try. If we believe something is impossible for us, we wouldn’t even try it, would we? But once we start believing that something is actually possible, it opens up a whole new set of avenues and choices right in front of us.

The firewalk or glasswalk experience is a perfect example. People who have not seen or experienced any of them find it difficult to believe that anyone could actually walk on hot coals or broken glass without getting hurt. It seems to go against common sense and their previous experiences with hot coals or broken glass. But when they do the walk, the old belief comes crashing down, and there is a major shift in paradigm.

That’s what exactly happened with me.

PS: This article was written almost two years ago right after the event.

A fantastic tale to delight your heart and ignite your soul

Life skills for young people

An unconventional guide to exceptional teaching

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Angel in the rock

Posted on 28 May 2009 12:56am in Inspiration

There is an interesting anecdote told about Michelangelo. He had just begun work on his masterpiece David chiseling away at a huge block of marble. People who passed by looked at what he was doing and remarked: “Oh, he’s making a statue.” A young boy was particularly intrigued by what he saw. There was no sign of a statue – all he could see was an old man working painstakingly on a piece of rock. So he asked Michelangelo what he was really doing. The great master looked at the boy and said with a smile: “There’s an angel inside this rock. I’m setting him free.”

Michelangelo saw an angel where others saw a rock. He was working to set the angel free while others thought he was making a statue.

In due time, the statue was completed and people looked at it in awe. It was breathtakingly beautiful – a majestic work of art. They then looked at the hands that had shaped the statue and then at the master himself. “It’s wonderful!” they exclaimed. “You’re a genius!”

Michelangelo smiled again and simply said, “If you knew how hard I worked to get my mastery, it wouldn’t seem so wonderful at all.”

How right!

We all have a David, an angel, inside us. The angel is hiding, waiting to be discovered, wanting to be revealed. Geniuses have found their angels. Every great person in history has found and followed their own inner angel. You and I can find ours too. All it takes is a realization that there’s an angel within and some work to reveal the angel.

Yes, it takes work. Ask Michelangelo, Thomas Edison, Bill Gates. It takes work. Ask a farmer who’s weeding the crops. It takes work. Ask a woman who has just given birth to a baby. It takes work!

It takes work to be a genius, and it takes work for a genius to reveal his angel. But it won’t seem like work. When you are out to explore your potential and uncover your genius, it won’t seem like work. Because it isn’t. It is a mission. A mission worth accomplishing.

Find your angel.

All the best.

A fantastic tale to delight your heart and ignite your soul

Life skills for young people

An unconventional guide to exceptional teaching

1 comments ( post yours ) more »


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