I loved watching TV when I was a kid, almost as much as I loved diving into my fantasy world. Sometimes, I couldn’t wait to get my hands on my dolls for their next dialogues and adventures. Whenever I write, I visit that place. Whenever I’m invited to play, even if it is just for a moment, I get transported there. That was the magic of teaching children for me. We played, and I had to oscillate between keeping the peace and being the guardian of the rules. Not as difficult at you might think. When I was in a classroom, my height helped. However, when I became a high school teacher. I went back to being short. It’s all relative, you know?

Teaching is a very safe place for me, I need it as much as my students need it. And I love that. (I’m glad you can’t see me as I write this. There’s blubbering.) Teaching is a love language and a huge responsibility. Sometimes we have the opportunity to make up for other teachers’ shortcomings, and I pray that other teachers are able to do the same for mine. I’ve been thinking a lot about this recently because a student talked about feeling safe. That made me think about all the mistakes I have made. I hate them. Mostly because I hope they didn’t affect my students. Teaching is an awesome responsibility.

Learning is not always easy. We have to face hurdles sometimes.

Hurdles like explaining that water, although considered tasteless and odorless, is not all the same.

But wait. Isn’t it two hydrogens and one oxygen? I mean, that’s it, chemically speaking.

It’s true, but there is more truth than meets the eye.

So I’ll tell you a story

https://tinyurl.com/mwk7psr2

You could have

Right off the bat, you know that this is going to be aggressive. You could have…

This is how you are alerted that someone is about to throw something in your face. Not a cake, mind you. Although you might wish it were a cake, it would probably hurt less and you could lick some sweet frosting or whipped cream off your face. I would. I might wish someone would throw a cake in my face. Yellow cake with sweet whipped cream. As metabolisms change, you make nutritional decisions that make sense for a healthy body but not for cravings. You realize the only way you get a taste of sheet cake is if someone slams it in your face. I don’t know about the rest of you, but I imagine that is why the older you get, the more irreverent you get.

We love to give advice. Hell, I wish I could have a radio show people would call into to tell me their problems, rant, and disclose secrets. That would be fun. I love flying off the handle. This is one of the ideas I have for an upcoming radio project with my friend Dr. Gabrielle. I’m psyched and kind of scared. The best feelings to have when you are about to start a project. Did I mention that it will be in Spanish? Will you like me in Spanish too? These are a few things that cross my mind. What kind of advice would you give me? I know what I would tell my students. I just could do with someone telling me those things in a determinedly convincing way, right now.

To express advice, you could use the phrase: If I were you, I would…

This might be better than using the imperative: do this, do that. Cinderelli.

For instance, if I were you, I would create a media strategy to rouse listeners for your radio show.

Something is enheartening about the phrase if I were you. It is the element of empathy. It is undeniably there, in the the subjunctive were bridging I and you. You recognize that what you are expressing is a hypothetical and that you have gone through the steps of using your imagination to be the other and to disclose what you would do for yourself. If I were you says they have imagined putting themselves in your shoes. You gotta appreciate that. Continue reading