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.
Ahh the power of silence. I find myself sometimes thinking "STOP TALKING" you have made your point! But for some reason my mouth keeps moving. The power of few words is all that is needed so many times. Even in the classroom silence is a pause of thought, making people use their minds instead of the teacher using their words to engage the minds.
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