Watering Lives

While I was growing up, my father would sometimes say, "You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink."  I've seen these words play out in real life with horses and people.

I recently cited this quote at the beginning of a period in a high school classroom as a warm-up to the lesson we were about to undertake.  I then expressed this analogy.  I said to the students: "A community can build schools, hire teachers, buy books, and send busses to bring children to the classrooms, but only students can desire to learn."  "Students learn by having desire and responding appropriately to the resources at hand."

All the students understood the significance of what I was saying and most settled into the lesson plan to learn it.  Half-way through the period, I asked the class this rhetorical question, "Imagine your parents or grandparents standing in the hallway looking through the door window at you and me. Would they be pleased with what they observe?"  After I asked the question while pointing to the window, I followed with my own answer. I said, "Yes, I believe they would be pleased."  I then thanked them for their work ethic and cooperative spirit of learning the lesson that had been prepared for us by the regular teacher.

Have a good week!