Former astronaut Chris Hadfield changed the way we look at space, through his recent stint on the International Space Station.
While he was in space, Hadfield made videos and took photos, letting everyone on Earth know what it was like to live in space and what he learned there.
Recently, Commander Hadfield was interviewed for We Day 2014 in Toronto. We Day is a series of events–with speakers and performers in front of large audiences–designed to help young people understand how they can help to make positive changes in the world.
Hadfield was asked what his life goals are, now that he has fulfilled a life-long goal of going into space.
He said that the experience of seeing all of Earth’s seven billion people from space helped him to understand how interconnected everyone on the planet is, and how dependent we are on each other.
He said that has given him a new goal. “To me, the most important goal is to raise the standard of living for as many people as possible and make it sustainable,” he said.
He said people need to stop blaming others for the world’s problems and take responsibility, themselves, to see what positive changes they can make.
“Blame is easy… the hard part is actually making change. And the easiest change to make is a deliberate change within yourself.” He suggested that people need to think about what they’re doing with their time and make sure that what they do every day lines up with their long-term goals.
“Look at your own behaviours and decide what am I going to do next and let’s try to make it line up with the long-term goals that I have in life.”
Video:
CURRICULUM CONNECTIONS
By Jonathan Tilly
Writing/Discussion Prompt
Do you have goals? What are your long-term goals? What steps can you take every day to help you reach your goal?
How do you want to help make the world a better place?
Reading Prompt: Responding to and Evaluating Texts
Chris Hadfield shares a lot of advise for young people in today’s article. Do you agree with the advise he shares? What advise would you give to children throughout the world?
Primary
Express personal opinions about ideas presented in texts (OME, Reading: 1.8).
Junior
Make judgements and draw conclusions about the ideas and information in texts and cite stated or implied evidence from the text to support their views (OME, Reading: 1.8).
Intermediate
Evaluate the effectiveness of both simple and complex texts based on evidence from the texts (OME, Reading: 1.8).
Language Feature: Vocabulary
Today’s article contains some pretty complex words. Look up all of the words below in order to ensure that you understand them fully.
sustainable, dependent, deliberate, & long-term
How does using sophisticated language contribute to the tone of an article?
Related links
TKN has got lots of great articles about Chris Hadfield. Here are some of them:
Hadfield at Freedom Day Celebration
Hadfield round-up
Hadfield sings with thousands of schoolchildren
Hadfield’s son, Evan, helps bring space to Earth
Hadfield debuts song from space
