Presentations, stories and how I look at things.

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Inspiration (Maslow).

February 2009, speech Fredesheim (Landstede conference on the theme ‘’meaning’’)

I am inspired by Abraham … Abraham Maslow
Maslow once written about the human needs, and set up a ranking system

It’s a privilege to me, to be working with students with ‘’higher fundamental needs’’.
I will specify them shortly:
- The social need, the feeling that you’re a part of something
- The need for appreciation and recognition
- And the need for self-development, to live up to your calling

When I say a privilege, that is really how I experience it
A lot of us (not all of us), generally don’t have to worry about lower fundamental needs, such as food, water, shelter, a bed and safety.

The way we are here today, we get to spend a lot of time on self-development
Maslow, by the way, didn’t invent his pyramid of needs just for students

Self-development … to me that is the crucial point/bottleneck in education
We (the teachers) often think that we need to develop the students
But that thought is incorrect … we shouldn’t aim to develop the students
No … we have to create an environment in which the students can develop themselves

The most important tools that are given to us for reaching this goal:
- Engagement towards the student
- The assumption that every person has qualities
- Passion and devotion for what you stand for as a teacher
- To think in terms of challenges instead of problems
- Help each other, coach each other when desired

All these tools are free of use, but are dependent on our attitude

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