Mirroring the TaoTe Ching, Greta Nagel divides her book into eighty one chapters, each with an aphorism or established tenet of Taoism and then a narration or story highlighting the example. The first chapter is labelled "The Way is Nameless". The "way" (or Tao) cannot be limited by ascribing a name to it-it is limitless. So to in teaching, Nagel asserts, when one "names" their teaching style- one limits oneself , and often in a political manner.
How often as adults do we get caught up in labelling? "I'm a Democrat, I'm a Salesman, I'm an American, perhaps even I'm a non-conformist". But are we ever really just what a label says it is? We would all need to string a mile of labels to make up who we are. We are all individuals.
The second chapter is titled "Silence is a Virtue". Over-talking can cause other to "timeout". Speak once and expect to be heard. Good Teaching can take few words.
How many times has a person walked up on stage, or gone in front of the classroom and just stood there not saying anything and after awhile the audience becomes quite attentive-what's going on? The power of the presumed speaker triples without saying anything! They have now much more attention than they would have gotten had they bounded up, said a few jokes, and then carried on. Silence is a powerful thing.
Monday, June 27, 2011
Thursday, June 23, 2011
The Tao of Pooh
I know...I'm supposed to be reviewing The Tao of Teaching but I thought it would be worthwhile to take a step back and brush up on Taoist philosophy and, short of reading Tao de Ching, Benjamin Hoff's book is very cute, light read. I highly recommend it! (as did the Tao of Teaching author Greta Nagel)
The Tao of Pooh reminds us that the basic concept of Taoist living is to live simply, seek wisdom, shun publicity, live activily and in the moment, and that knowlege for the sake of knowledge is useless. There are many more concepts that will be explored as I read further in the Tao of Teaching. The basic premise of Benjamin Hoff's Tao of Pooh is that Pooh, through being simple and child-like, always seems to find the answers the Knowledgable Owl, the always Busy Rabbit, and ever Fearful Piglet cannot.
The Tao of Pooh reminds us that the basic concept of Taoist living is to live simply, seek wisdom, shun publicity, live activily and in the moment, and that knowlege for the sake of knowledge is useless. There are many more concepts that will be explored as I read further in the Tao of Teaching. The basic premise of Benjamin Hoff's Tao of Pooh is that Pooh, through being simple and child-like, always seems to find the answers the Knowledgable Owl, the always Busy Rabbit, and ever Fearful Piglet cannot.
