Teaching

I wish I posted more.
Here's a thought I was having:
I like teaching.
I also like being a teacher. 
I'm a little ashamed to say that I'm not sure which one I like more.
Here's an XKCD cartoon that I happened upon recently.



I'm not sure if it's pro-teaching or not, but I like to think it is. 
The cartoon got me to thinking about technology and the future of human survival.
I'm a big fan of the "we need to work on getting off this planet and out of the solar system if we really want to survive" mentality. I think we could do it. Look at how creative humans can be when they put their mind to something. The only problem is, the technology that could save us is much less popular than the technology that is destroying. If we as a species are going to outlive this solar system we either need to refocus our technological interests (more to the things that aren't killing us) or increase our maturity to help us handle it.

Back to teaching...
As a teacher and as a new parent, I am often thinking of the best way to help my kids absorb the things I think they need to know. Over the years I've learned a secret: An excited kid will be more likely to learn on their own and more likely to actually enjoy the thing that they need to know. This is something I learned through personal experience - more through regret than appreciation, sad to say.

Besides being healthy, one of things I hope my son will learn is to play an instrument or two. I was never forced to play an instrument when I was younger. My brother ended up playing saxophone. I always thought it seemed like the most boring thing in the world to play orchestra-style saxophone. Maybe, if I had been shown something like the video below, I would have been more interested in playing an instrument.
Enjoy.