Middle School Mentor Gifts

'Truthfully, I love teaching middle-school kids, they're so interesting!...They're all just pudgy bundles of potential!...Although some of them smell funny.'

'Do you think, perhaps, that we could start shooting for a few longer-term goals around here?'

'Put an egg in the bowl and beat it with the whisk.'

'... And some primitive cultures, believed that 'the great ones' modelled us from clay.'

Grad School Parent-Teacher Conference

Reach for the Star.

'No, your guess isn't as good as mine.'

"Women Supporting Women!"

'As a beginning teacher, you know you come here prepared to teach and become a good teacher. As you gain experience, you will learn that you also come here to care and become a great teacher.'

"I've just been offered a job sorting out the Y1K bug.."

Academic Idol - 'Professor Johannsen's paper was zippy. It had robust vocabulary and I almost felt that I could dance to it. I would give it a 7.'

'I like the way you handle responsibility, McWit, so I'm going to blame some stuff on you.'

"I wasn't the smartest guy in the room, but I was the loudest."

Leadership in the Covid-19 Era

"If you really want independence, you should get into contract law."

"I'm not sure about this new trainee - he asked me when does he get to see the actual ropes."

"Leadership is all about knowing who to delegate responsibility for all your mistakes."

'BANG' and a cosmology institute appears.

'How many times have I told to seize the day before it seizes you?'

"...and before you embark upon life's journey, could one of you help me with my laptop?"

"Oh indeed I did: I went feral for a year when I was young. It taught me a lot about the world, but about myself too..."

'Investment charts can be complicated, son, but that usually means, 'bonuses'.'

'Believe me, I know transformation isn't easy. I pulled a muscle once.'

Teamwork!

"A journey of a thousand miles begins with a MAP, actually."

"I was young and cocky because I wasn't aware of my shortcomings. Now I'm old and cocky because I can't remember what they are."

"Here are the new sales figures, which way up would you like them?"

"Give a man a fish and you feed him for the day. Teach a man to fish and you can charge a consulting fee."

"Well, it's unanimous. Instead of going out of business quietly, with dignity and grace, we've decided to end things killer asteroid-style, taking as many of our competitors with us as possible!"

"A one-word email reply... classic power move."

"I guess I was a good shot, because I took down 50 Nazis...all by myself. That's how I got my silver star. Honestly, I don't consider myself a hero. I consider myself lucky."

Academics At The Beach: The Old Man And The Sea

'I don't know if money grows on trees, son. I know it doesn't grow in fields.'

An old man growing berries