BREAKING THE RULES

WHO SAYS?WHAT IF?

BREAKING THE RULES

RENEGADE TEACHING

OUTSIDE THE BOX

FINNEGAN’S PLASTIC HEART MEETS PABLO’S FLYING QUARK

OR

HOW TO STROKE A LIGHTNING BOLT AND OTHER ASSORTED IMPOSSIBLES

UN-TEACHING AND OTHER LIQUORICE-FLAVOURED THOUGHT-EXPERIMENTS

OR

THERE ARE SOME RULES THAT SHOULDN’T BE

CHALLENGED…

YOU CAN’T CHEAT GRAVITY

THINGS CHANGE. IT’S THE ONLY THING YOU CAN REALLY BE SURE OF…

THINGS CHANGE. IT’S THE ONLY THING YOU CAN REALLY BE SURE OF…

WHAT YOU SEE ISN’T ALWAYS WHAT YOU GET…

(THAT’S NOT AL GORE IN THE BACKGROUND.)

PEOPLE DO STUPID THINGS

MODERATION: IT’S ALWAYS A GOOD THING

THERE’S NO SUCH THING AS A BAD JOKE!

OK. MAYBE THERE IS.

BOMB DISPOSAL GUY

OK. MAYBE THERE IS.

IT’S A BAD IDEA TO PLAY POKER WAERING REFLECTIVE GLASSES.

GOOD TASTE: IT SHOULDN’T BE OPTIONAL

SOMETIMES IT’S NOT A BAD IDEA TO ACCEPT YOUR LIMITATIONS

TRUST-WORTHINESS IS SO HARD TO FIND.

ROMANCE ISN’T ALL IT’S CRACKED UP TO BE.

THE MOON IS ALWAYS LARGER THAN AN ELEPHANT

PRIDE COMES BEFORE THE FALL (WITH CONDOLENSCENCES TO THE ALL BLACKS)

SHE’S ALWAYS RIGHT. ALWAYS.

ONLY THE SMART LION CATCHES THE GIRAFFE

MONEY: EASY COME, EASY GO… LET’S SAY NO MORE.

MEN: THEY DON’T REALLY CHANGE MUCH.

EVER.

NO ONE LIKES S.U.V. DRIVERS.

DO YOU EVEN NEED TO ASK WHY?

THERE’S ALWAYS TIME FOR A FRIENDLY DRINK.

ALWAYS BE WARE OF THE UNDERDOG … ER, CAT.

IRONY ALWAYS STRIKES AT THE BEST TIMES

IRONY ALWAYS STRIKES AT THE BEST TIMES

APPRECIATE YOUR JOB – IT COULD BE SO MUCH WORSE

GOOD SENSE IS ALWAYS A GOOD IDEA

SOME RULES SHOULD BE BROKEN. AND WHEN THEY ARE, SURPRISING NEW DISCOVERIES AND WAYS OF DOING THINGS EMERGE.

THIS ONLY HAPPENS WHEN WE CHALLENGE THE COMMON SENSE VIEW OF THINGS…

LEAVE IT TOO LONG AND HISTORY MOCKS YOU…

So many centuries after creation, it is unlikely that anyone could find hitherto unknown lands of any value. (King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella on Columbus’s plan to find a shorter route to the Indies.)

Far too noisy, my dear Mozart. Far too many notes. (Emperor Joseph II, 1786)

Drill for oil? You mean drill into the ground and try to find oil? You’re crazy! (Response from drilling company executives to oil industry pioneer Edwin Drake, 1859)

No woman will in my time be prime minister. (Margaret Thatcher, 1969)

You will never amount to very much. (A primary school teacher to Albert Einstein)

The telephone has too many shortcomings to be seriously considered as a means of communication. (Corporate memo from telegraph operator Western Union, 1876)

Rail travel at high speed is not possible, because passengers, unable to breathe, would die of asphyxia. (D. Lardy, 1835 – Irish astronomer, philosopher and professor)

My imagination refuses to see any sort of submarine doing anything but suffocating its crew and floundering at sea. (HG Wells, 1901)

Anyone who expects a source of power from the transformation of the atom is talking moonshine. (Nobel laureate Lord Rutherford, 1933)

I think there is a world market for about 5 computers. (IBM Chairman, Thomas Watson, 1943)

Computers in the future may weigh no more than 1.5 tons. (Popular Mechanics, 1949)

But what’s it good for? (IBM engineer, 1968, on the invention of the microchip)

Professor Goddard seems to lack the knowledge ladled out daily at high schools. (NY Times editorial refuting the notion that rocket science pioneer Robert Goddard’s inventions could actually travel in space.) Space travel is utter

bilge. (R. van der Riet Woolley, Royal Astronomer, 1956 … a year later, the Russians launched Sputnik.)

No flying machine will ever fly from New York to Paris. (Orville Wright, 1908)

Man will not fly for 50 years. (Wilbur Wright, 1901)

Segregation now! Segregation tomorrow! Segregation forever! (Alabama Governor George Wallace, 1963 … 9 months later, Alabama schools were integrated.)

IF YOU NEVER TRY TO BREAK OUT OF OLD HABITS, YOU’LL NEVER DISCOVER ANYTHING NEW…

IN TEACHING, THERE IS ONLY REALLY ONE RULE… THE OXY-10 RULE: FIRST DO NO HARM.

THERE ARE A WHOLE HOST OF OTHER RULES THAT SEEM TO HAVE A SOLID BASIS.

BUT DO THEY REALLY?

LET’S TRY BREAKING A FEW IN OUR IMAGINATIONS AND SEE IF ANYTHING GOOD COMES OF IT…