Persistence is the twin sister for excellence.
One is a matter of quality; the other, a matter of time.
Marabel Morgan
The Electric Woman
(Costa and Kallick, 2000)
One is a matter of quality; the other, a matter of time.
Marabel Morgan
The Electric Woman
(Costa and Kallick, 2000)
Today was once again a great day. It didn't start off so well with me needing to employ one of my mental habits that Marzano & Pickering (1997) highlighted in the critical thinking category ..... perseverance! I had a student, that made it a well known fact, that he did not wish to finish his pages of the literacy workbook off (requested by my mentor teacher) because he didn't feel like it. We battled through it and achieved a reasonable amount of work under the circumstances.
After lunch I was once again teamed up with the same student, but this time for Maths. The lesson started out as the first one did, with very negative body language and attitude towards the task. After a lot of positive encouragement, and different methods of explaining the concept, the student grasped the concept, and completed the work successfully. I was already quite chuffed with the result, but it was increased ten fold, when he came up to me at the end of the lesson and told me that "it was really fun working with you today, I didn't know maths could be so much fun." I felt a lump in my throat (because I'm a sook!) and thanked him for the effort he had put in and for the nice compliment he gave me.
I guess this is the ultimate reward for a learning manager, achieving positive outcomes from a lesson with a student who seems destined not to achieve the outcomes in that lesson! This makes me glad that I am completing this course, even if I only help one student achieve this, I have succeeded.
Just wanted to comment on the quote above and say that, I'm sure it will take quite a bit of perseverance to achieve excellence .... guess I'm one baby step closer now!
References:
Costa, A., and Kallick, B., Habits of Mind: A Developmental Series. Retrieved on April, 2010 from: http://www.instituteforhabitsofmind.com/what-are-habits-mind
Marzano, R., & Pickering, D. (1997). Dimensions of Learning: Teacher's manual (2nd ed.). Alexandria: ASCD
Hi Sam, I loved reading about your first couple of days at school. What an amazing journey already! I know what you mean about Habits of Mind and perseverance, especially when faced with a situation you are not use to. Well done for sticking with it and making a difference in that little persons life. Best of luck with the rest of your EPL, I am sure there are many more challenges and moments like you have described so far.
ReplyDeleteKind regards
Katrina Knight
F/T Secondary
Katrina, thanks for your kind words. I am really pleased I made a difference that day, as you know with kids, take it one day at a time .. there are no guarantees he will be the same next time. At least I know it's in him somewhere, hopefully I won't have to 'dig as deep' next time to find it!
ReplyDeleteGood luck with your EPL, and I'm sure you will have many of these experiences over the rest of this year, as will I.
Regards
Sam