My favorite lesson I taught this year was on ability, teaching students to use the sentence pattern: I can...

I can sleep. I can swim. I can sing karaoke....

To test our abilities, we have to try new things and enter new contexts. And as our lists of abilities grow, we grow more confident using them, finding creative ways to take on new challenges.

I can ride a bike. I can read kanji. I can eat natto every day...

 And because education provides students with the opportunity and the resources to be able to go out and test, explore and engage with new environments, in this way, I believe that education fosters agency and empowerment.

I can trek for days at a time. I can fight off the leeches. I can climb all over the top of the world... I think.

As I embark on a new challenge to test my limits, I hope you will help me support Learning for Life, an organization that assists marginalized communities in South East Asia to develop skills in order to spend less time acquiring basic needs, and more time developing abilities in other arenas.

 I will be trekking from July 30th to August 17th and appreciate your support for a great cause.

Can.

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