Phantom Tollbooth Passage
This passage pretty much sums up my Philosophy of Teaching. I have read it at 8th grade graduations, printed it on photo books that I’ve made for my students and used it in reading comprehension lesson plans.
“It has been a long trip,” said Milo, climbing onto the couch where the princess sat; “but we would have been here much sooner if I hadn’t made so many mistakes. I’m afraid it’s my fault.”
“You must never feel badly about making mistakes,” explained Reason quietly, “as long as you take the trouble to learn from them. For you often learn more by being wrong for the right reasons than you do by being right for the wrong reasons.”
“But there is so much to learn,” he said, with a thoughtful frown.
“Yes, that’s true,” admitted Rhyme; “but it’s not just learning things that’s important. It’s learning what to do with what you learn and learning why you learn things at all that matters.”
“That’s just what I mean,” explained Milo, as Tock and the exhausted bug drifted quietly off to sleep. “Many of the things I’m supposed to know seem so useless that I can’t see the importance in learning them at all.”
“You may not see it now,” said the Princess of Pure Reason, looking knowingly at Milo’s puzzled face, ‘but whatever we learn has purpose and whatever we do affects everything and everyone else, if even in the tiniest way. Why, when a housefly flaps his wings, a breeze goes round the world; when a speck of dust falls the ground, the entire planet weighs a little more; and when you stamp your foot, the earth moves slightly off its course. Whenever you laugh, gladness spreads like the ripples in a pond; and whenever you’re sad, no one anywhere can really be happy. And it’s much the same thing with knowledge, for whenever you learn something new, the whole world becomes that much richer.”
“And remember, also, “ added the Princess of Sweet Rhyme, “that many places you would like to see are just off the map and many things you want to know are just out of sight or a little beyond your reach. But someday you’ll reach them all, for what you learn today, for no reason at all, will help you discover all the wonderful secrets of tomorrow.”
From The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster
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[...] Today I set up accounts for my 7th grade reading class. I worked out a few of the bugs from the experiences with the 8th graders yesterday, but it still wasn’t as smooth as I would have liked. I need to learn that as long as I learn from mistakes, it’s OK to make mistakes (there’s a great passage from the Phantom Tollbooth that says just that). Anyway – I managed to get all the 7th graders logged on to their accounts and posting today. I had a few false starts when I forgot to add a class as users and they had to repost their comments. Luckily, I had had them copy and past their posts into a word document for safe keeping while I figured this all out. [...]
[...] Today I set up accounts for my 7th grade reading class. I worked out a few of the bugs from the experiences with the 8th graders yesterday, but it still wasn’t as smooth as I would have liked. I need to learn that as long as I learn from mistakes, it’s OK to make mistakes (there’s a great passage from the Phantom Tollbooth that says just that). Anyway – I managed to get all the 7th graders logged on to their accounts and posting today. I had a few false starts when I forgot to add a class as users and they had to repost their comments. Luckily, I had had them copy and past their posts into a word document for safe keeping while I figured this all out. [...]