Dominating

I read and watch the blogs of several other people each week. Their thoughts sometimes spawn my own as I try to adapt them to education or our school. This week I watched a vlog (video blog) on the topic of winning versus dominating in what you do. The author highlighted the difference in why we know superstars in their field and are not familiar with others that are professionals at what they do. Even professional athletes. We know the big names because they dominate in their sport but we may not know the names of those that play on the same team. The author's purpose was to inspire us to become dominators in our own arena in life.

This week I met a man that I consider a dominator. Several of you had the opportunity to hear Barrington Irving speak at a STEM conference earlier this year and I had heard quite a bit about him. Barrington was the youngest person (and African-American) to fly solo around the world. While that is plenty impressive enough on its own, the story gets better. Captain Irving did this at 23, in an airplane that he built himself, from parts that he convinced manufacturers to give him. That's dominating your field.

Today Captain Irving has dedicated himself to improving STEM education and sponsors a flying classroom with hands on labs for students. He wants his passion to become infectious to others. While people like him are certainly a rare breed, there is plenty that we can learn from him. Imagine all of the obstacles that he must have met on his journey to fly around the world. They probably are not that foreign to a classroom teacher. You meet new obstacles every day. Things that stand between you and dominating at your craft. If we can focus on a single goal, much like Captain Irving did, then that goal becomes just a little easier to reach. So, what part of teaching do you want to dominate in? What can you pour you
r heart into and be proud of? Define that and then let's all get to work dominating at what we do!