13th warrior - Viking prayer

This is for my aunt Sister Roni Veronica Nowakowski, who told me in a card I just opened how much she likes seeing posts about my classes.*

The Norse tattoo I have on my back is a warrior's journey from Valhalla to Earth back to Valhalla again. I memorized this Viking prayer for a student and when he came in late yesterday I stopped what I was doing and yelled out "Viking!"

~ I raised my arm with the tattoo of the sword and "Everything Forever" written around it looked him in the eyes and said this Viking prayer.

He stopped and looked back at me as if the words were bouncing down into his soul and coming back out in the form of fire through his eyes.

And I knew I had him. 

Now every time he wants to give up or just sit there, try to behave, and make it through the day as if it were any other, all I have to do is tell him:

"Viking! Time to Misbehave! These learning goals are not here to decorate a board or put the letter A on a piece of paper.

"They are bidding you to use them to take your place in the Halls of Valhalla!

"Where the mental skills you bravely develop today will live on forever as unstoppable tools in achieving your dreams tomorrow."

I'll give and bet a year's worth of my life that he actually achieves them in his own life. 

A life for a life. That's exactly what teachers are doing with theirs for others.

*This is also for my father and my mother Peg Stuart and my sisters Audrey Cercelle and Christine Benson and my brother Dustin Stuart (and nephews and niece who will probably like this)

....Who through good times and bad, being understood and loved or misunderstood and not so much, living safely 9-5 or dangerously as if my soul were on fire, have always continued to call me son and brother and uncle

The way I have chosen to live hasn't always made me popular with everyone and I know I'm not easy to understand and support all the time

It's caused others to try and hurt me by saying things that aren't true or want and try to kill me for something I've done they don't like, like having a hit put out on me for something I wrote about Dad called "Be More of a Man" that I refused to take down. 

But look what it was for; the ability and strength to hold on until I've figured out a way to reach someone so deeply and completely that it changes their lives for the better forever. 

A life for a life. 

One Last Dying Whisper; Live and Love Big

One Last Dying Whisper; Live and Love Big

When I die and all is said and done 

And the angels uncover me to look for unused spare parts

I want them upset that I have nothing left to give

That I held back and saved what I had 

for some kind of afterlife value 

I could trade in when I'm dead

No regrets or unused thoughts

No love left in my heart 

because I used it all up 

and gave it all away while I lived

"This guy is worthless."

He has nothing left to give

So that's the pounding we heard down there

It was the beating of his heart

Being pounding out like a drum

This guy is worthless to us

We'll have to give the next one

brand new parts."

And as they do may a last dying whisper 

escape from my lips

to his or her heart

"Live and Love Big"

They can’t see themselves stopping trains until they see the adults around them stopping trains

As adults we have a very important role to play in the lives of our children’s live, what they will believe today and what they will become as a result of those beliefs tomorrow. 

When they see and hear us complain and even cower against the troubles and difficulties of this world, they begin to lose their ability to dream and believe big and begin to dream and believe in themselves less.

When we stand up for what’s right and stop the train of what is in its tracks we teach them to do the same.

I’ve made a deal with my principal (who is just trying to follow the rules given to her). Once I get the students to the curriculum-approved target Level of 3, I can work with them on my School of Athens life-changing levels 4-10.

I’ll tell these new students that I’ll meet in one week that all we have to do is learn and grow to the minimum level of achievement before we can go to the much higher  levels. 

Stand strong and stop the Level 1 train, the Level 2 train, and the Level 3 train.

Now you get to become a superhero and learn to stop the Level 4, 5, 6, etc trains until you become so strong that you’re picking them up and throwing them across the sky.

****They can’t see themselves doing this until they see the adults around them doing it.

Teachers don’t make heroes out of hope. We make them happen out of hard work forged in the fires of pushing ourselves to our limits.

Teachers Don’t Make Heroes out of Hope ~ We Make them Happen out of Hard Work Forged in the Fires of Pushing Ourselves to our Limits

But getting our students to achieve a Level 3 in school is only helping them become successful in school. 

Where the real fun begins, and the test of your heart and that deep body-building type of strength, is at the Level 4 and above:

What wakes me and taps into my hunger to do this is creating levels based on some of the “School of Athens” greatest thinkers and achievers

LEVEL 4 ~ Enheduanna, Sappho, and Hypatia; three women of ancient history  that allows me to give powerful, irrefutable evidence to the girls, and boys in class that women can be just as great as any man and can work just as hard to achieve it.

These three women alone cover almost 3,000 years of history (2300 BCE - 415 CE) and have taught or inspired greatness in others, such as…..

LEVEL 5 ~ The Seven Sages of Delphi, who taught/inspired….

LEVEL 6 ~ Socrates, who taught/inspired…..

LEVEL 7 ~ Plato, who taught/inspired…..

LEVEL 8 ~ Aristotle, who tutored.inspired…..

LEVEL 9 ~ Alexander the Great, who inspired……

LEVEL 10 ~ Hannibal, who teaches and inspires us to either find a way or make one!

This is the level I feel I have to get them to. This is the level that will set them free today, tomorrow, and forever. 

But this is the level that challenges me the most and makes me want to quit the most out of feeling the most exhaustion and frustration, not with them but with me not being smart enough yet to get them here. 

Getting them excited and to want it is easy. Getting them to be able to do it is hard.

And if I’m not hard enough to push myself to a physical, emotional, and mental LEVEL 10 what is the reality of me being able to push them and get them there?

Teachers don’t make heroes out of hope. We make them happen out of hard work forged in the fires of pushing ourselves to our limits.

Having the Strength to Create Life and Light in an Entire Classroom

I have no desire to look like a bodybuilder, not that it’s wrong, it’s just not why I want to push myself so hard physically.

Teaching is tough. We need to be tougher. It’s hard. We need to be harder.

Personally, my body or outer appearance and ability is for my children, my woman, and my tribe of people that exist around me.

My inner body is for making sure all my students grow and achieve the learning targets, or Level 3s throughout the year.

My Inner~Inner body is at the cellular level where my belief and passion become so dense that they collide as hydrogen atoms at the core of the Sun producing light and heat for an entire solar system…………

Just like every teacher can do for their entire classroom, when the core of our being is so hard and dense that dreams and beliefs flow like lava and come alive in the hearts and eyes of our students.

Bodybuilding Motivation - No Shortcut (Muscle Factory)

Your outer muscular strength is not as important as your inner muscular and mental strength.

With your outer strength and stamina you can play with your children, please your woman, and protect your people; especially the children of the world and in your  tribe.

But it cannot help you pursue your dreams and hold onto others until they are strong enough to hold onto their own.

When we concentrate more on our inner strength then the world will become less impressed with our outer strength, and real changes will be made.

Cherokee language lesson: Welcome to America

For all of us former non-native Americans who tell current non-native Americans, "You're in America, speak English":

Let's have a higher sense of humor about us and a higher sense of intelligent thinking within us.

https://youtu.be/2WDTs8xd8BE

Cherokee language lesson: Welcome to America

Cherokee language lesson: Welcome to America



For all of us former non-native Americans who tell current non-native Americans, "You're in America, speak English":



Let's have a higher sense of humor about us and a higher sense of intelligent thinking within us.



https://youtu.be/2WDTs8xd8BE

Lyrics That Mean Nothing ~ We Were Gifted with Thought ~ I'll Be Holding On To You

Lyrics That Mean Nothing ~ We Were Gifted with Thought ~ 
I'll Be Holding On To You

Many of our target learning goals in school are declarative: I know that.......

But to me, that's like asking a baby how to walk without ever asking them to take that knowledge and use it to practice walking.

Knowledge is important but it is still the lowest level of thinking. We were gifted with thought. Creating what only we can with our thoughts and evaluating the results is the highest.

It's time to move our feet to a more introspective beat. 

Test scores will go way up.

Seas of self-doubt will be parted.

And our children will be left standing on a mountaintop with their arms raised and smiles on their faces as the Sun rises to greet them with each new day as they grow into adulthood.

And then lower-level thinking that produces lower-loving living like terrorism and child abuse and maybe even the divorce rate will begin to diminish instead of what we're seeing now as they are increasing.

(@ 3 minutes into this song): 

Lean with it

Rock with it

When we going to stop with it?

Lyrics that mean nothing 

We were gifted with thought

Is it time to move our feet

To an introspective beat?

Lyrics That Mean Nothing ~ We Were Gifted with Thought ~ I'll Be Holding On To You

Lyrics That Mean Nothing ~ We Were Gifted with Thought ~ 
I'll Be Holding On To You

Many of our target learning goals in school are declarative: I know that.......

But to me, that's like asking a baby how to walk without ever asking them to take that knowledge and use it to practice walking.

Knowledge is important but it is still the lowest level of thinking. We were gifted with thought. Creating what only we can with our thoughts and evaluating the results is the highest.

It's time to move our feet to a more introspective beat. 

Test scores will go way up.

Seas of self-doubt will be parted.

And our children will be left standing on a mountaintop with their arms raised and smiles on their faces as the Sun rises to greet them with each new day as they grow into adulthood.

And then lower-level thinking that produces lower-loving living like terrorism and child abuse and maybe even the divorce rate will begin to diminish instead of what we're seeing now as they are increasing.

(@ 3 minutes into this song): 

Lean with it

Rock with it

When we going to stop with it?

Lyrics that mean nothing 

We were gifted with thought

Is it time to move our feet

To an introspective beat?

Twenty One Pilots Dallas Shooting Tribute Speech

Each of us CAN do something to make our world a better 

place; as a singer, writer, teacher, parent, spouse, policeman,

 citizen, etc.

All we have to do is play whatever part we play as big as possible.

No hiding in the dark. Shining in the light that comes from

 within us out to the rest of the world.

Sofia Stuart ‪#‎TwentyOnePilots‬

Spy Game - The Roof Scene

FOR MATURE AUDIENCES ONLY

We don't trade job security for treating students like test scores. 

Making a Winter Count and Telling Your Tribe's Story

My first ever movie trailer for a published learning activity. 

How cool will this be for students; coming into class and 

watching a movie trailer of the upcoming 

lesson! http://bit.ly/29NAcBb

Thought #88 on Ending Terrorism ~ O Fortuna, Let Me Tell YOU What I Intend to Make Happen in the next 86,400 Seconds of This Day

KICKSTARTING OUR HEARTS ~ Thought #88 on Ending Terrorism ~ O Fortuna, Let Me Tell YOU What I Intend to Make Happen in the Next 86,400 Seconds of Today

The Power of Intention

Thought #79 on Ending Terrorism ~ Be the Thing that Stops Bad Things From Happening to Them ~ Like a Poor Education

KICKSTARTING OUR HEARTS ~ Thought #79 on Ending Terrorism ~ Be the Thing that Stops Bad Things From Happening to Them ~ Like a Poor Education

*After he told me I reminded him of Hancock and I realized the impact I had on him, I wrote his full name on a piece of paper and practiced saying it every day so I could say it correctly when I called his name during the 5th-grade graduation ceremony. 

Parts of our FaceBook messaging since 2009

“Hey Mr. Stuart, it’s me, Abder (Abderrahmane Echchalhi) lol. How r u doin? I miss u because u always pushed me to higher limits. Plz write back as soon as u can. Ty, bye.

I’m really hating the 6th grade right now because all our teachers are getting crazy about the FCAT and their giving us so much homework each nite. I really miss the way that YOU teach!!!!!!!!!!! How’s ur life going on with ur students? I’m sure their growth is powerful!”

Ur a good man Abder. It's not as much fun 4 me this year becuz I don't have just one group of students to work with. It's more like middle school where I only have @hour with each group. 

I know u'll pull thru and do well. I miss having u in class.

“Hey Mr. Stuart, don’t think I forgot you! Dream big, be big, do big ~ livin by that motto. Happy bday!

I hope you know you've had a great impact on my life. 

I still remember when you lifted me up and put me against the white board joking around. lol good times good times.

And how we had to finish our homework so we can play 4 square (WHICH I LOVED)

Dream big, do big , be big will forever be engraved in my heart thanks to you and breaking away from the school’s curriculum.

Also, you told me once , "If someone says you have a lot of potential don't take it as a compliment (because it means you aren’t using your potential)! Haha! 5th grade with you was the memory I get even in high school, and how much you loved Bella which if I do recall correctly is your daughter!

Just to let you know I'm majoring in sports science now, still have that super long name (Abderrahmane Echchalhi), also going to minor in psychology and my brother Mohamed is doing great, got a manager job at Holiday Inn !

Even though I was so young your class and your name are all I remember when thinking about elementary school.”

Thought #69 on Ending Terrorism ~ Revolutionary Change Comes From Revolutionary Thinking

KICKSTARTING OUR HEARTS ~ Thought #69 on Ending Terrorism ~ Revolutionary Change Comes From Revolutionary Thinking

The problems we have today, including the rise of terrorism, have been created by the way we have educated our children in the past.

A completely different way of education that gives teachers time to allow their students to think for themselves versus getting them ready for the test may be what we need for an educational revolution.

So far it's just been lip-service modifications of the same surface-level system leading to reactionary surface-level decisions that create birth, school, abuse, work, terrorism, death surface-level and increasingly terrified living.

KICKSTARTING OUR HEARTS ~ Thought #67 on Ending Terrorism ~ Developing Our Students' Higher Brain ~ Violence is the First Refuge of the Incompetent

Of the three brains that make up our total brain, the highest is the neocortex which makes up 5/6ths of the total organ. 

Yet we still rarely access it in education, falling back on the lesser limbic and still lower reptilian brains because these brains resist change. 

That's why I think Eleanor Roosevelt said, "Great minds discuss ideas, average minds discuss events, small minds discuss people." — Eleanor Roosevelt

In a reptile-eat-reptile world where we use the lowest part of our brain we react emotionally to each other who we see as different and dangerous, and must “kill them all”. This is the place in the brain where terrorists are doing their "higher-level" thinking and making their conclusions on what action must be taken to solve their problems.  

We develop the higher competence of the higher neocortex in their kids and our kids and yes, education changes the world as its people come to truly higher-level and less reptilian conclusions on how to resolve conflict. 

KICKSTARTING OUR HEARTS ~ Thought #67 on Ending Terrorism ~ Birth, School, Work, Death ~ Live Your Life With Every Breath!

KICKSTARTING OUR HEARTS ~ Thought #67 on Ending Terrorism ~ Birth, School, Work, Death ~ Live Your Life With Every Breath!

We can’t change the world. We can only change the thoughts we allow in our head.

One of the most important thoughts we could have is that we will live life big before we’re dead.

We live this way and others will too because they’ll remember, “Dream Big, Do Big, Be Big!” was something someone once said.

With enough others thinking and living this way we will eventually have the whole world covered.

And we will have changed the world.

Defending Your Life

KICKSTARTING OUR HEARTS ~ Thought #66 on Ending Terrorism ~ Use More of Our Brains and Use Less of Our Hate

This movie is on Netflix for the first time. I highly recommend watching it if you want to laugh, be enlightened and get inspired all at the same time.

KICKSTARTING Our Hearts ~ Thought #33 on Ending Terrorism ~ Reach Them Deep and Move Their Souls

KICKSTARTING Our Hearts ~ Thought #33 on Ending Terrorism ~ Reach Them Deep and Move Their Souls

With all of the limitations and requirements placed on teachers it’s nearly impossible to reach our students in a way that will have a long-lasting powerful impact. That’s why we hope to reach that “one student” who will let us know what we’re doing with our lives is worth it. 

But that’s not the job. The job is to reach ALL our students in AT LEAST one way that WILL have a long-lasting powerful impact. 

And although I recognize it’s NEARLY impossible, I say that it’s NOT COMPLETELY impossible , if we become SMART ENOUGH to find ways to do this within the limitations we’re given. 

Make the time to celebrate success. It reaches them which allows you to teach them. The deeper you reach the deeper you can teach. This version takes @ 3 1/2 minutes. Plenty of time to line up for lunch or dismissal and quickly arrange the students by growth that morning or afternoon.

Or call up the last student who is the lowest in the class but working the hardest and having him or her walk proudly to the front of the line. 

If there’s not time to collect, analyze, and sort the data in real time then do it from the day or week before say, “You’re all winners. Get up here!”

And if you really want to have fun while developing  steel-hard unbreakable self-esteem in your students say, “Well, you’re all winners except one, which I’m not going to name.” Then look at the most confident kid in the room and playfully mouth the words, “It’s you”.

Not only are they likely to leave school humming the tune on their heads, they’re very likely to do their homework knowing they CAN do it and are more likely to DO MORE on their own because they want to BECOME more. 

They know it because their teacher and all their classmates know it. They FEEL it which turns their knowledge of it into a belief, and belief in yourself allows you to take action, and it is this action that causes someone to become the hero of their own life. 

All in 3 1/2 simple minutes; one day at a time, one student at a time. Make the time. 

KICKSTARTING Our Hearts ~ Thought #29 ~ Learn to Think For Ourselves Again

KICKSTARTING Our Hearts ~ Thought #29 ~ Learn to Think 

For Ourselves Again

Words and ideas CAN change the world.

Especially when those words and ideas are used to generate

and test hypotheses that allows the user to practice

examining their reasoning via higher-level strategic thinking.

KICKSTARTING OUR HEARTS ~ Thought #18 on Ending Terrorism ~ Happiness Dwells in the Soul

KICKSTARTING OUR HEARTS ~ Thought #18 on Ending Terrorism ~ Happiness Dwells in the Soul

I just created a special folder for u Sally Snavely Wilson to use these posts in my lessons  - we have to come up with a special name/title/character for u and I'll figure out how to integrate it -  with your permission of course,

and if u don't give ur permission them i'll use it without ur permission of course - either way - ur too funny and see life in such a playful light that uses playful thinking ..... Snavely's Snickers? no,.....BONG!!!!!! (sound effect) "It's time to snicker with Sally. You have 60 seconds to figure out why this is funny. Go! (mission impossible countdown begins) -

we'll figure out something.......You would have been good friends with Plato and  Democritus (the Laughing Philosopher) .........

OK, this is turning into another  thought on ending terrorism.....which is my job to do, first in their heads, then in their neighborhoods, world, etc..........so whether u like it or not i'm adding u to the faculty of The School of Athens Mind Adventures.....

in fact, every Snavely must contribute (e.g. Susan Snavely Wolford) to helping my students laugh and learn or ......they can't keep the Snavely name!.....Those are the rules that I just made up......

It worked when I taught at Gilmour Academy where I told my very smart and wealthy students who were getting A-'s with their eyes closed that there were only 2 grades in my class, an A+ or an F-....when they asked if I could do that I said,

"As far as you know"....and they bought it which helped me get them to buy into giving their ALL!.......

*I can just hear it now, "Mr. Stuart, you PROMISED you'd try to teach more inside the box so it looks more like the boxroom of everyone else's classroom. It's easier to judge you that way."........Hey! When I said that how was I to know that the box needed to include Bellville? .....Bellville, Orlando, Ancient Greece, the universe........

if what our kids need to be taught won't fit into the box we're using to teach them then it seems pretty clear we need to make the box of THEIR education bigger!.

...just a thought.... just a must!...........just a mission that needs to include Democritus the Laughing Philosopher and Sally the Laughing FaceBooker.

A life without parties would be like an endless road without an inn. ~ Democritus

Happiness resides not in possessions, and not in gold, happiness dwells in the soul. ~ Democritus

‪#‎PrayforTurkey‬ ‪#‎OrlandoStrong‬ ‪#‎ViveLeFrance‬PenniesToParis.blogspot.com ‪#‎Remember911‬ ‪#‎StoppingTerrorism‬‪#‎TheSchoolofAthensMindAdventures‬ http://bit.ly/1XYBMo7@SchoolofAthensMindAdventures School of Athens ‪#‎HigherLevelThinking‬‪#‎HigherOutcomeTeaching‬ ‪#‎DreamBigDoBigBeBig‬ ‪#‎MrStuart‬‪#‎FindtheHeroinYou‬ http://bit.ly/1mwDXk3 ‪#‎BetterEducation‬ ‪#‎OCPS‬‪#‎CypressParkElementary‬ ‪#‎SandLakeElementary‬ ‪#‎OrloVistaElementary‬‪#‎WashingtonShoresElementary‬ ‪#‎GilmourAcademy‬ ‪#‎Marzano‬‪#‎CommonCore‬

‪#‎SallySnavely‬ ‪#‎Democritus‬ ‪#‎Plato‬

‪#‎Mötley‬ Crüe - ‪#‎KickStartMyHeart‬

https://youtu.be/CmXWkMlKFkl

KICKSTARTING OUR HEARTS ~ Thought #16 on Ending Terrorism ~ Root Out Terrorism in the One to Root it Out in the Many

KICKSTARTING OUR HEARTS ~ Thought #16 on Ending

Terrorism ~ Root Out Terrorism in the One to Root it Out in

the Many

Once the terrorism of self-doubt and self-destructive behavior

(self-terrorism) is rooted out of the world within our children

we must make sure it’s rooted out of the world around them.

We say we’ll protect them and we must.

If we’re escorting them to their afterschool program the day a

murdered woman’s body is found across the street from the

school and we see “F@& Taft” graffitied on that street, then

we graffiti a big Banksy* “Dream Big” over it.

If a hit is taken in retaliation one day then we simply get back

up and graffiti an even bigger Banksy “Do Big” the next day.

If there’s an even bigger retaliation and a new “F@#&”

painted on the street, then we rest, heal and then Banksy the

biggest “DO BIG” over the top of that in all capital letters.

If the bike and rider is totaled in a crash then that rider is

going to come back bigger and stronger and smarter than

ever and make sure that every one of those kids worth

protecting becomes so big, so smart, and so strong that the

grasp of terrorism and fear will lose its grip on them forever.

This is our classroom, our school, our community, our country

and OUR planet.

If you persist in knocking us down we will insist on getting

back up. If you insist on knocking us down harder we will

persist in getting back up stronger. If you try to kill us we will

become limitless.

And when we die, whether it be by the chance of your

misfortune or by nature’s changing course untrimmed; Our

eternal summer shall not fade

Nor shall we lose possession of the beauty that is within us;

Nor shall Death brag we have wander'st in his shade,

When in eternal lines to time our thoughts and words grow'st;

So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,

So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.**

We are warrior poets. This is how it is in our classroom. This

is how it is in our world. We can’t be defeated.

*Banksy is an England-based graffiti artist, political activist

and film director of unverified identity.

**Adapted from Shakespeare’s Sonnet 18 ! Shall I compare

thee to a summer’s day?

#300 #ThisIsSparta #Shakespeare #Banksy

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cAacE5ukzrs

#PrayforTurkey #OrlandoStrong #ViveLeFrance PenniesToParis.blogspot.com #Remember911 #StoppingTerrorism #TheSchoolofAthensMindAdventures http://bit.ly/1XYBMo7 @SchoolofAthensMindAdventures School of Athens #HigherLevelThinking #HigherOutcomeTeaching #DreamBigDoBigBeBig #MrStuart #FindtheHeroinYou http://bit.ly/1mwDXk3 #BetterEducation #OCPS #CypressParkElementary #SandLakeElementary #OrloVistaElementary #WashingtonShoresElementary #GilmourAcademy #Marzano #CommonCore

#Mötley Crüe - #KickStartMyHeart

https://youtu.be/CmXWkMlKFkl