Steve Berkowitz's Blog, page 4
May 25, 2012
Why I Teach
Everyday brings a new challenge.
Even on the bad days the students have a way of making me smile.
To help students believe in themselves and to show them that no matter what their learning differences are, they can still succeed.
I was originally planning on doing business in China, but after spending 15 days hospitalized with pancreatitis in Shanghai, my outlook on life changed. I decided to choose a career doing what I loved, teaching. (More on this story later)
May 17, 2012
Creating Stories
Stories are easy to come by. Everyday, no matter who you are or where you are, you have a story to tell. You may go to work, to school, or nowhere at all, but you are still living your very own story. When you speak to your loved ones at home and tell them how your day was, you are telling a story. You tell stories speaking with friends at lunch: a time something happy, exciting or bad happened to you; your plans for the next week; what you did on your vacation. Everyday you are the teller of your own story. Next time you are talking with your friends and family listen to your words, are you telling a story?
I love to write and tell stories. The stories I create stem from the experiences in my life; from growing up outside of Boston to my life and travels abroad in China and Taiwan. The stories floating around my head are of course also influenced by my imagination, which I freely allow to run wild. My debut Children’s book, Chocrotes and the World Without Question, is a good example of these influences. Who is to say there isn’t a world of Chickens somewhere out there in the vastness of our universe? A world where an evil King Doodle Doo has seized power, and forced the habitants of the Chicken’s Egg to never ask questions? Or another world populated by humans who are terrorized by dragons. The list goes on and on, never ending.
You see your words, ideas, and imagination are your own. The universe is too big for anyone to tell you what is or isn’t possible to create.
I wanted to start this blog with a memory from childhood:
Growing up, my brothers and I would frequently play in the woods around our family home. There were streams to splash in, forests to explore, and the freedom to be independent if just for a little while.
One early spring day at about the age of 10, while out exploring the forest I got separated from my brothers. Scared and all alone amongst the trees, I shouted for my brothers but got no response. Walking in the direction which I thought was home, were houses that looked familiar. Reaching these houses I realized that this was not my own neighborhood, and started to get nervous. Cutting through the yard to the road I found that I had actually walked in the opposite direction and had ended up about a mile away from my own home. Today as an adult I realize that one mile is not very far, but as a young kid who is all alone it seemed a lot further. After figuring out where I was, I made the long walk back home. It took me a good half an hour to finally arrive at the house, where I found my brothers playing in the backyard with an adventure of their own to tell.
Thank you for reading, many more stories to come.
