nathan chow:

What is missing in today’s classroom? What is the most important thing I teach to my middle schoolers? How do we use our classroom to get to world peace?

I believe that character education—especially lessons on love and respect—is missing in our education system and yet is the most important thing we should teach.

I gave a “TED Talk” (ted.com) at Boston University’s TEDxBU in February 2011. It was titled “The Missing Lesson: Character Lesson” and was meant to be very emotionally raw, inspirational, and entertaining.

Some live Tweets about my talk were “Nathan Chow is KILLING IT!”, “Mr. Chow’s got jokes!” and “Endearingly funny.”

Watch the informal video of my 7-minute talk for yourself!:

Better video of Nathan Chow’s TED Talk: The Missing Lesson: Character Education

My friend recorded this with her little digital camera, so the audio quality isn’t the best, but I liked how it captured audience reactions better than the official video (http://bit.ly/ncted11). Below is the planned speech with some corrections to what I actually said. Visuals timed perfectly were important in my talk, so make sure you’re watching the video, but refer to this transcript if there’s something you can’t hear. Enjoy!

Comments and feedback are always appreciated! =)

(I think, as a postscript, I want to say that I’m not an expert on character education. I was flattered but overwhelmed by the attention I received during the break for this TEDx event, as well as after it. I’m still a beginning teacher with lots of failures to take care of. As with most things in my life, I have a pretty clear and highly ambitious vision of what my classroom should look like and what my students should take away from having me as a teacher, but my successes are only sporadic at best. Still, some of my greatest strengths are in idea-making, vision, being different, and creativity—and I would always welcome having conversations and brainstorm sessions about character education and related topics!)

~~~

[First slide: Chalkboard-themed title page with talk title and my name]

Good afternoon and welcome to my classroom.

My name is Mr. Chow, but that usually makes me feel old, so let’s just go with Nathan for today.

Ummm.. people ask me all the time why I became a teacher. I tell them, first of all, it was not to make money. (pause) Well, that’s working really well…

(pause. wait for laughter to subside.)

I actually tell them that there are revolutions in teaching arts rather than just math and languages. There are revolutions in teaching children to enjoy the learning process rather than just aim for a test score. There are revolutions in diversified teaching rather than just lecturing. And thanks to Sir Ken Robinson and others, there are revolutions in embracing different talents and passions rather than just considering academic skills crucial to the world. We need dancers and entertainers, we need chefs, we need firefighters.

But rarely do we step back to teach what really matters to the world: character. It’s the most important but often missing lesson–and it’s what I feel most passionate about when teaching.

There are many aspects of character: focus, perseverance, respect, joy, teamwork, integrity. These are just a few, and I have a limited amount of time up here…

…6 minutes to be exact. Oh.. 4 minutes 45 seconds, 4 minutes 44, 43… (nervous sigh) At least now I know what it would feel like to win an Oscar tomorrow.

Alright, limited time. Let’s get straight to the point and only talk about the aspect of character that I truly believe is the most important: love!

We-need-to-teach-our-children HOW. TO. LOVE!

[new slide: book cover of Kama Sutra!!]

Whooops.. wrong lecture. That’s for TEDxxx.

(pause. wait for laughter to subside)

(what actually happened and what I said: “I actually pressed that slide way too early…”)

[new slide: chalkboard with a heart drawn on it]

I repeat to my students: It’s important to gain knowledge, but it’s more important to give love.

(slowly, quietly) Put stuff in (point to head), give this out (pretend to pull heart out).

(walk to sign language interpreter; directed at her:)

Put stuff in (point to head), give this out (pretend to pull heart out). Got it? Yeah, that’s an easy one. (thumbs up)

(pause. wait for laughter to subside.)

We must not only develop our talents. We must use them for the greater good of the world.

This works on a small scale: One day one of my 6th grade students told me her friend was absent because her long-time boyfriend just broke up with her. I asked her how long they’ve been going out. She said… A long time—eight weeks! I told my student that when she goes home, she should push her homework aside and call her friend. Talk to her, spend the night with her, give her a hug.

When we push academics too hard and ignore the character lessons—no matter how small—we are essentially telling our students that tests are the most important thing in life. (shake head slightly) Let us not forget the human side of teaching.

This also works on a large scale: If you learn something at this event today, then when you exit those doors (point to back)—…or these (point to sides) if there happens to be a fire soon–if you learn something at this event today, then you put stuff in (put to head). When you leave, give this out (pretend to pull heart out).

I have an idea worth spreading. But I am afraid of public speaking. But I still chose to be up here today. And I still choose to stand in front of my classroom every day.

All the knowledge in the world is useless—maybe even detrimental—if we don’t learn to use it for the greater good of the world. Cast away your fears and your idleness.

(pause 5 seconds)

Ideas worth spreading (point to head). Actions worth doing (pretend to pull heart out).

Learn it. Then do it. And do it for the right reasons.

What if we teach a student all the skills necessary for success but never teach her about character? We might get this:

[new slide: “Corrupt business executive” is written up top with a photo of money being exchanged in a sketchy way.]

What if we teach a student to enjoy learning on his own, to experiment with knowledge in the wee hours of morning, but never teach him about character? We might get this:

[new slide: "Computer hacker" is written up top with a photo of a hand in black gloves typing on a keyboard.]

And what if we teach a student public speaking, intense determination, and fierce leadership but leave out the lessons on love? We might get this:

[new slide: "Hitler" is written up top with a photo of Hitler and a Nazi flag.]

(pause 5 seconds)

(serious, concerned look at audience)

(in a whisper) I REALLY wish I had a joke for you right now.

We can teach students to reach their full potential but not teach them about love.

That’s a scary thought.

[new slide: chalkboard with a heart drawn on it--same as earlier in the talk]

It’s important to gain knowledge, but it’s more important to give love.

(pause 5 seconds)

John Lennon once sang, “You may say I’m a dreamer, but I’m not the only one.”

[new slide: cartoon earth with children of different colors holding hands to circle around it]

Do you want this? (pause 5 seconds. wait for audience response?)

(whisper) I do too.

[new slide: cartoon red brickhouse school with a bell on top]

It starts in school. We have to teach it.

Thank you.

(gesture: point to head, pretend to pull heart out, throw it out to audience!)

~~~

I hope you enjoyed it!

To Education and Beyond!,
“Mr. Chow”.. formerly known as Nathan Chow

P.S. If you are into this whole peace, love, and happiness movement, I’d also like to invite you to check out my other blog dedicated to these topics at http://oncewelive.com.

i can say i miss the gentle hills rolling far in the distance,
and i can say i miss the low clouds i could almost touch,
and i can say i miss the whiffs of wind in the morning,
and i can say i miss the simmering sun on a hot day,
and i can say i miss the stars on every clear night,
and i can even say i miss the whole camp.

but to say just that would be a lie.

because i really miss my kids.

- Nathan

From June to August, I was working at Camp Lohikan, an overnight camp in Pennsylvania’s beautiful Poconos. I was a cabin counselor and activities instructor for video, radio, computers, magic, and juggling. Here are some of my random camp memories roughly in chronological order:

- Stargazing on the first night while people passed around the guitar
- My staff introduction during orientation.. and how everyone remembered me by that everytime I met someone new
- Meeting my amazing co-workers
- Having Josh Barchat as my CIT for one day before I was switched to Cabin 14B with Inters. My new co-counselor was Fred and my new CIT was Meatloaf.
- Ty, Laura, and Shannon’s conversation about foreign phrases
- Being on the circus staff for one hour… and learning how to teach trapeze moves I’ve never done before
- My media arts head instructor’s kids Nebraska and Rev, the most adorable kid at camp
- Working with Megan, Caleb, Andy, Jesse, Nat, and Stephen in the media arts room
- Getting used to being internet-less
- My cabin’s “Brown-Eyed Girl” performance during Night of the Classics… and winning 1st place for Inter Boys
- Re-reading staff profiles with Danielle and Mark
- Meatloaf trying to smash open his locked box and our kids nearly destroying his family jewels
- Scranton, the rite of passage for counselors on their first day off
- My wives on Sadie Hawkins Night: Danielle, Helen, Ashley, Elana, Cara, Rachel, and ummm.. lol I forgot the other 3 (that’s not a good sign of a good relationship..)
- A bat flying into our cabin
- New York City with Elana, Ryan, and Claire. Being crammed in Fred’s little car equipped with astronaut belts, Elana’s house and dogs, the top of the Empire State Building, meeting with Lauren, Times Square, Claire’s peanut, telling Fred we left his car in the city.
- Josh Berger and Jake Beeber begging me to be their new division director.. the cutest thing ever
- Cara and Matthew’s random visits to the media arts room
- Sam Rubinstein’s “Lohikan’s Got Talent” episodes
- The weird (and painful) video shoot near the bungee site with Robert, Brenda, Jordan Parcel, Jacob Morris, Toni, and others
- Inter canteen: free candy with all my canteen cards, getting beaten in soccer by little Spanish kids, and finally time to just sit and talk with kids and counselors
- Dorney Park: going on every roller coaster cuz they all had short lines
- Entertaining the kids with voice imitations
- Getting Luke to help me pick up random litter every morning before he was allowed to call me Natino
- Being engaged to Keenan
- Olympics Color War: Ninjas 3rd place! (Thanks to Megan, Jess, Corey, and Jenna’s leadership)
- Nathan Hotdog! (Courtesy of Ariana, Jessie, and Ben)
- Making Jake’s episodes of “Punk’d at Lohikan”… and punking Richard Swift
- Chicken noodle soup without chicken or noodle at the German restaurant
- The dances to “Hands Up” and “Everytime We Touch”
- “Woah, woah, why are you talking?” (The song and even just the words “Woah woah” will never be the same ever again.)
- Banquet and Prom #1: serving the kids and practicing our waiter skills
- Being switched to Cabin 1C for super-juniors. My new co-counselor was Richard Staub and my new CIT was Alex DiPaola.
- Parking crew… again
- Toilet Overflow #1 (Evan confessed weeks later)
- Richard Staub and me pouring Fabuloso on the floor like crazy
- Caleb’s amusing life stories
- New York City with Fred, Jeff, Shannon, Sean, Elana, JP, Megan, Kelli, and Evan. Our hotel search, JP’s cursing, Jeff’s comments to Shannon, Museum of Natural History, Chinatown, Times Square.
- The Dutch auction rainy day activity… only exciting if Danielle and Ashley are there
- Volunteering to line serve in the dining hall more often than necessary cuz it was so fun
- The CampPower guys
- Relaxing at Sam Schneider’s lake house (again, Sam, we all thank you for such a wonderful day off at your beautiful house)
- Mike and Alex’s chess games
- My new co-counselor Fran from Spain… and all his questions about America
- Lunches under the tent with Danielle, Pierre, Ashley, Helen, Jenn, Alex Cheetham, and Fran
- Andy and Sam saying the same rude things together
- Getting our kids to protect us from other cabins while Richard and I were counting our Lohikan money
- Peaceful chats by the waterfall
- Getting chased by a skunk
- Hershey Park: too much rain to do anything other than let my kids go on kiddie rides or watch that one kid who ate a whole 1×1.5 foot bar of chocolate
- Guessing people’s names at e-mail… and usually getting them right
- Getting dressed up by Cabin 23B for the Ms. Lohikan Beauty Pageant and winning 4th place even with unshaved legs. Ummm, thanks girls? I still have my nail polish on, by the way..
- Danielle telling me that I might not have had the best costume, but that I should’ve been Miss Congeniality.. lol
- The toga dance social
- My kids running back to the cabin with me after evening activities and one commanding the rest of us to run, jump, skip, walk, or rest
- Overnight sleepover in the woods: campfire hotdogs and marshmallows, Mike and Alex’s stories for the kids, and the kids not listening when I told them to walk 20 feet away from our site before peeing
- Toilet overflow #2. Cleaning Alex’s crap off the whole floor was by far the most disgusting thing I’ve ever done in my life.
- The Chinese restaurant with Jake, Mike, Stephanie, Jenn, Alex Cheetham, and Heather. The real test if counselors can act their age..
- BJs, formerly known as Jericho’s, formerly known as Jericho
- Randomly sitting with Alex Brown, Luis, Carlos, Maurizio, and Alejandro at dinner
- Yelling “FREE chip” to purposely make the kids laugh before yelling freeze
- Senior girls’ radio shows in both the first half and second half (too many people to list… you know who you are!)
- Senior girls sneaking in and out of the e-mail room (ummm.. that would be even more to list.. cuz you know you all did it)
- The Taco’Sun girls and their commercial
- The “Chicken Weird” video, the “Mel Burger Commercial,” the “Trix with Dr. Pepper” commercial, Ashley McDade and Lauren Nadel’s toothpaste commercial, and all the other videos the kids produced
- Making the promo videos of each activity site
- My “Just because I’m Asian doesn’t mean I’m doing e-mail” sign at Add/Drop
- The way Lohikan staff members overtook every nearby town on nights off (and by nearby, I mean 30 minutes away)
- How fast can we get from the Bean’s Coffee Shop back to camp?
- Banquet and Prom #2: the dances, the pictures, the talks
- The smiles and thank-you’s I got from kids who won awards for video, radio, and computers
- The Burning of the L: the “If I Could Work at Camp” skit, the last singing of “Wallerville Road,” and the last evening activity
- The stuff you guys wrote in my little yearbook
- The tears, hugs, and final good-byes on departure day
- Trying to get a friend’s car out of a ditch on our last night off… and failing. And then cramming 7 people into Fred’s 4-person car, including 5 people in the 2-person backseat. (Lap dance galore.)
- Good-byes to counselors and waiting in line for our paychecks
- Being able to say I had kids for one summer
- For 9 straight weeks, waking up before 9 a.m.
- For 9 straight weeks, having no TV, no movies, no news
- For 9 straight weeks, having severely limited internet
- For 9 straight weeks, living in poopy-colored cabins with no air conditioning
- … And still having the best summer of my life.

To all my dear friends I met this summer, thank you for making Camp Lohikan my home for 2 months. I’ll miss you all, but I’ll be sure to hold onto these precious memories for the rest of my life. You’ll be remembered. Take care, and farewell.

Love Always,
Nathan

P.S. Be sure to check out all my pictures from camp too!