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I love my job. I drive 35 minutes or more each way in my gutless hybrid which does in fact get 40+ MPG going downhill. People often ask me how I can drive THAT far to work. But the commute may be one of the things that I love the most, even in traffic. Many a blog post has been composed in my mind driving up and down highway 50. I love the time to think, to reflect, and to dream. Today was no different.
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Over the past week, I have had several conversations with teachers about challenges and differentiation. In one conversation, someone shared that they were not having a 40 book challenge because it they didn’t want a challenge, or a competition. (Several classes in our school are having a 40 book challenge for the year in their classes inspired by Donlayn Miller, you can read more about it here). I came away from that conversation wondering why the word challenge seemed like a bad word. The 40 book challenge is just that- a challenge. I challenged myself to read 365 books last year, basically a picture book a day, and failed miserably by reading only 108. Did I reach my goal? No way! Was it a challenge for me? Definitely! When all was said and done, I read 108 books last year. I can live with that. This year, I set my goal at one more book than last year...109. And, now in the 9th month of the year I have read just under 40 books. I am way behind. But I am determined to find time to read. Will I meet my goal? I don’t know. But I am still excited by the challenge. Just like I know our students are. Will they all read 40 books? Who knows. But even if they don’t I hope they are excited about the challenge.
I love this quote by Edmund Hilary, one of the first to climb Mount Everest:
I love this quote by Edmund Hilary, one of the first to climb Mount Everest:
“I think I mainly climb mountains because I get a great deal of enjoyment out of it. I never attempt to analyze these things too thoroughly, but I think that all mountaineers do get a great deal of satisfaction out of overcoming some challenge which they think is very difficult for them, or which perhaps may be a little dangerous.”
Challenge is a good thing.
Last week, I taught a writing lesson in a kindergarten class. I would just like to share up front that two kids cried during this lesson, one because he couldn't draw a 3D cube and another girl was frustrated because she couldn't spell all of the Disney princess names. I think I pushed them just a little past what they thought they could do. Am I saying kids should cry? No! But, eventually the little boy finally made a cube he liked and the little girl wrote the first letter of the princesses’ names and by the end both were very proud of what they did and smiling!
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| List of princesses |
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| The cube |
I will never forget the sheer terror I felt before my first presentation, my first keynote and the incredible relief I felt afterwards when I had finished. I could do it! During my drive home today I couldn’t stop thinking about this video. This is how I hope kids, teachers, and all learners are feeling at the end of every day- when they have conquered something, anything that they thought they could not do.
What challenges you? I believe in you.
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