Skip to main content

Pride Fuels Desire

We sat, barely knowing one another, and talked about setting goals for behavior.  We defined the behaviors we thought should be shown throughout the days, weeks, and months of a school year.  We discussed the act of setting realistic goals…attainable yet challenging.  We spoke to the fact that we are a group and each person has a responsibility to the group, and a responsibility to help reach the goal set forth.  We delineated a way to track the progress of our goal. 

For the past 13 years of teaching I have had my students set a goal for unsolicited compliments.  The goal itself has varied as has the way each class progressed through the year toward their goal.  Every class has met their goal, some surpassing it.

This year is not different.  The goal was set on the first day of school…90 unsolicited compliments in nine months.  I can remember us talking about how we would need 30 per trimester to reach our goal.  I look at our whiteboard where we keep track of our progress and see that to date we are at 30…right on track.

They get excited when they move the magnetic numbers, watching the total rise.  Not because they think they are going to get something in the end but because they know that it is because of their choices that progress is being made.  They are proud of themselves…and that pride fuels more desire to excel.

Trimester 2 is upon us and we are solidified in the routines, comfortable with each other, and open to exploring more each day.  The goal set forth is well underway, too; and with pride and commitment we know we can reach our destination and then some. 


As the teacher I find it fascinating, each and every year, to watch my students embark on such a worthwhile endeavor such as presenting their best side every day in order to attain a good feeling in the end.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Looking Out

Looking Out Originally written May 27, 2015 Lightly edited for clarity in August 2026. Just hours ago, my students left. They are on their way to summer adventures, family time, and friends. Just as quickly as they walked into my life, they walked out again. Yet each of them will always be a part of my life. When a school year begins, my new students are just that—students. They arrive as a group, and at first there is little that distinguishes them beyond their physical appearance. They are quiet, reserved, and and still unknown to me. During those first few days, I snap a picture of each one, not yet knowing who they really are. I work to learn their names and match each one to a classroom number. I try to figure out who knows whom from the neighborhood. I share pieces of my own life, hoping they'll eventually share theirs. Time meanders on. Slowly, they begin to let their light shine. Slowly, they begin to share what's important to them. Slowly, I'm afforded the opportu...
Post a Comment
Read more

Art & Science

     The familiar winds of autumn blew rapidly through the playground.   Ponytails flying, unzipped jackets flapping, and soaring playground balls all took errant paths.        Just as fall has briskly left so has trimester one.   Reports cards were sent home today and I plan on placing the final touches to each student’s conference narrative.   The practice of filling out the narrative for my students has become one of my favorite “at home” aspects of teaching.   I look forward to retreating to my little office in the basement, surrounded by the faint noises of my family upstairs, and writing.   I seem to enter into a world only my students and I really know; the life of Room 211 on a daily basis.       My mind pictures each student as I am writing about them.   Their faces make an entrance into my thoughts followed by the smile I see each day.   I travel back in t...
2 comments
Read more

Running...

Running... Original post written on August 18, 2012. Minor changes for clarity made in Aug 2026. Twelve years. That's how long I have been teaching at Lincoln. Twelve years. That's how long I have taken the same route from my house to school. In that time I have seen many houses for sale, then sold. Some were torn down to make room for a new house, a new family, and new students. I've seen the streets that I traverse through Elmhurst being ripped apart and rebuilt to make them safer and more driver friendly, not to mention more car-friendly. Twelve years. I've seen high school kids standing on corners, waiting for the school bus to pick them up for school. Some of them recognize my car while others recognize me as their former teacher. Most of them, however, probably do not pay much attention to me as I pass by. Among all that I see, Monday through Friday mornings there is an unmistakable figure, usually two blocks ahead of me on Fairfield. He is a man. He has slightly ...
Post a Comment
Read more