Early in my teaching career I bought a poster for my classroom, featuring excerpts from a book called Live and Learn and Pass It On, by H. Jackson Brown. The book contains a list of lessons from life, along with the age of the person who had learned them. For example: “I’ve learned that it’s easier to stay out of trouble than to get out of trouble.—Age 14” “I’ve learned that you can’t hide a piece of broccoli in a glass of milk.—Age 7” “I’ve learned that I don’t feel my age as long as I focus on my dreams instead of my regrets.—Age 83” It seemed to be a good and appropriate thing for students to read, so I put it up. After a year or two, I decided I needed to make up my own list of life lessons. Thus was born Mr. V’s List, which I would update every year on my birthday, and which hung on the classroom wall next to my original poster.
(I also created a second document, entitled Mr. V’s Shadow List, which contained some of my life lessons that are darker, or otherwise not appropriate for the classroom. Only a precious few–not students–got to see that list.)
The list was useful in that it emphasized to my students that learning doesn’t stop when the bell rings, or after graduation; it’s an activity that is literally as lifelong as breathing. “Keep feeding your brain,” is how one freshman put it. What’s more, it showed that life lessons don’t always have to involve deep thought or inspiration, but can arise from even mundane actions: “I’ve learned that it’s best to unload the bottom rack of the dishwasher first.” is an example of the latter.
Instead of simply republishing my original compilation here, I’ve decided to examine some of its contents individually and in more detail. Over time I plan to dip into both my lists, and also include lessons learned since I left the classroom. Maybe I can feed your brain, too.
(Upon reviewing the lists for the first time in a while, I notice that the words “limit” and “perspective” appear prominently. Perhaps the seeds of this website sprouted here; perhaps not. But as Garak the tailor once put it, “I believe in coincidences. I just don’t trust them.”)
#WhatIHaveLearned
