A colleague of mine shared this with us today - Most days I get bogged down in the details, responsibilities, of work and life that keep me from staying current with my desire to share information with others. I felt this was important enough to waste 5 minutes distracting myself from the requirements of work/life. Hopefully you are encouraged by it.
Yep. I said it. Yesterday I gave up on a
student…….for about half a day. It would be so easy for both of us if I
failed him and pretended that he didn’t exist in my class. That’s what he
wants after all.
It helped me to read this article that popped up on my news
feed this morning. I’ve copied and pasted it below in case you to need a
boost.
Juli
WHAT STUDENTS REALLY NEED TO HEAR
It’s 4 a.m. I’ve
struggled for the last hour to go to sleep. But, I can’t. Yet
again, I am tossing and turning, unable to shut down my brain. Why?
Because I am stressed about my students. Really stressed. I’m
so stressed that I can only think to write down what I really want to say — the
real truth I’ve been needing to say — and vow to myself that I will let my
students hear what I reallythink tomorrow.
This is what students really
need to hear:
First, you need to know right
now that I care about you. In fact, I care about you more than you may care
about yourself. And I care not just about your grades or your test
scores, but about you as a person. And, because I care, I need to be honest
with you. Do I have permission to be honest with you — both in what I say and
how I say it?
Here’s the thing: I lose
sleep because of you. Every week.
Before I tell you why, you
should understand the truth about school. You see, the main event of school is
not academic learning. It never has been. It never will be. And, if you find
someone who is passionate in claiming that it is about
academics, that person is lying to himself or herself and may genuinely believe
that lie. Yes, algebra, essay writing, Spanish, the judicial process —
all are important and worth knowing. But they are not the MAIN event.
The main event is learning
how to deal with the harshness of life when it gets difficult — how to overcome
problems as simple as a forgotten locker combination, to obnoxious peers, to
gossip, to people doubting you, to asking for help in the face of self-doubt,
to pushing yourself to concentrate when a million other thoughts and
temptations are fingertips away.
It is your resilience in
conquering the main event — adversity — that truly prepares you for life after
school. Because, mark my words, school is not the most challenging time you
will have in life. You will face far greater challenges than these. Sure, you
will have times more amazing than you can imagine, but you will also confront
incomparable tragedy, frustration, and fear in the years to come.
But, you shouldn’t be worried
about the fact that you will face great adversities. You should be worried
because you’re setting yourself up to fail at overcoming them. Here’s the real
reason I lose hours of sleep worrying about you: You are failing the main event
of school. You are quitting. You may not think you are quitting, but you
are because quitting wears many masks.
For some, you quit by
throwing the day away and not even trying to write a sentence or a fraction
because you think it doesn’t matter or you can’t or there’s no point. But it does.
What you write is not the main event. The fact that you do take charge of your
own fear and doubt in order to write when
you are challenged — THAT is the main event.
Some of you quit by skipping
class on your free education. Being punctual to fit the mold of the classroom
is not the main event of showing up. The main event is delaying your temptation
and investing in your own intelligence — understanding that sometimes
short-term pain creates long-term gain and that great people make sacrifices
for a greater good.
For others, you quit by being
rude and disrespectful to adults in the hallway who ask you to come to class.
Bowing to authority is not the main event. The main event is learning how to
problem solve maturely, not letting your judgement be tainted by the stains of
emotion.
I see some of you quit by
choosing not to take opportunities to work harder and pass a class, no matter
how far down you are. The main event is not getting a number to tell you you
are worthy. The main event is pulling your crap together and making hard
choices and sacrifices when things seem impossible. It is finding hope in
the hopeless, courage in the chasm, guts in the grave.
What you need to see is that
every time you take the easy way out, you are building a habit of quitting. And
it will destroy your future and it will annihilate your happiness if you let
it. Our society cares nothing for quitters. Life will let you die
alone, depressed, and poor if you can’t man or woman up enough to deal with
hardship. You are either the muscle or the dirt. You either take
resistance and grow stronger or blow in the wind and erode.
As long as you are in my
life, I am not going to let quitting be easy for you. I am going to
challenge you, confront you, push you, and coach you. You can whine.
You can throw a tantrum. You can shout and swear and stomp and cry.
And the next day, guess what? I will be here waiting — smiling and
patient — to give you a fresh start. Because you are worth it.
So, do yourself a favor: Step
up. No more excuses. No more justifications. No blaming.
No quitting. Just pick your head up. Rip the cords out of
your ears. Grab the frickin’ pencil and let’s do this.
– C. Mielke
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