My Thoughts about Mister Rogers

"One of the greatest gifts you can give anyone is the gift of your honest self." - Fred Rogers
Even though you're probably one of the 3 million people that have seen this video by now, I felt compelled as a techKNOW teacher to share it with you. If there is any one person outside of my family that I want to emulate in my teaching, it may very well be Mister Rogers. The creativity and adventures he shared with his young viewers impacted and engaged many of us growing up. I'm sure that you (as well as myself) can recall at least one episode of "Mister Rogers' Neighborhood" you watched as a child - how to make crayons, anyone? His kindness and gentle nature give me hope that those of us who aren't so loud and verbally outspoken can impact the education and the conscience of our students.
Television in the 1950s and 1960s was what the Internet is today - new, "cool," and a commercial medium. Fred Rogers took an interest in using television programming to enhance the lives of and teach children, without advertising and leisure entertaining (I added the word "leisure" there because Mister Rogers was both educational and fun to watch). For many, his show modeled a safe and loving home, a caring father figure, and how to pretend play without the zing of cartoon characters or video games. I, for one, loved, loved, loved Mister Rogers' puppets! He saw the potential to use new technology to impact those around the world, children he would never meet but would nonetheless nurture. In a way, you could say he's the original techKNOW teacher.
My favorite thing about Mister Rogers is, like the quote I began this post with, he remained true to himself. He didn't become loud and flashy to attract young viewers to his program. In fact, Fred Rogers may have been seen (and especially would be today) as an unlikely television star - a guy with great ideas, but not the persona to pull it off on camera. Yet it was the fact that he was calm, gentle, and soft spoken that set him a part from the rest. It not only made him unique - it made what he taught his young audiences about life stick. He walked the walk, proof positive the volume of your message isn't measured in decibels.
So, enjoy this "jazzy" version of a beautiful song that encourages all of us to be curious, make believe, and grow the great ideas inside of us. Perhaps if we as teachers instill these values in ourselves and model them in our teaching, our students will absorb them, too.