Learning to Grow Every Day

One of the prompts I gave my class this week was to describe your dream day if money was no object. I often think about what my dream day would look like. I always picture it including all of the things that are important or interesting to me. The hard part was figuring out how to fit it all in. I thought of so many scenarios, and I finally decided to focus on the areas outside of school. This is a day that would happen sometime in the future. It would all begin at around 6 a.m. because I’m a morning person, and if I am going to have my dream day I may as well wake up early and get started! I would start by going for a 3-mile run. A shorter run feels like it isn’t enough, and a long run would make me too tired for the other activities. I have always enjoyed the 3-mile distance. Running also helps me get in the right frame of mind. I do some of my best thinking while I am running. After my run, the entire family would hop on a plane to Scotland. Why Scotland? Scotland happen...

There is a book I love, To Be a Runner, by Martin Dugard. In the book, he described one of his life mottos, Keep Pushing...Always. He wrote, "It is a pursuit of that best possible version of ourselves, refusing to accept mediocrity, and waking up each day full of hope instead of fear. It’s having courage, taking a risk, staying focused on the important things in life. And it’s remembering that courage is not the absence of fear but the ability to press forward despite your fears" (152). When I was a teenager, my family traveled to a family resort on a small lake in Bellaire, Michigan. The weeks spent in Bellaire were some of the best weeks of my teenage life. We spent time with the same families year after year and participated in a variety of water sports. We even ate dinner together. The resort was similar to summer camp, but this was for families. The resort had a long-standing tradition of allowing vacationers to swim back across the lake (1.5 miles). It was a...

I gave my class the following prompt this week: Is it better to say the right thing or do the right thing? Or, in other words, do actions speak louder than words? Many times during our class discussions students have brought up that it is so hard to be kind and do the right thing sometimes. However, they do not give themselves enough credit. The field trip last Friday illustrated this beautifully. Last Friday, all of the seniors took a trip to Lorain County Community College for some climbing, high ropes, and team building. There were nerves, fear of heights (including yours truly), and excitement to get out of the classroom. Some students were literally shaking at the thought of climbing to high heights in front of their peers. Some resisted participation at first. Even I was not eager to give it a go. However, something magical began to happen as the students were taking on the various challenges. They began to cheer for, encourage, and motivate each other to higher heights. You coul...

In the era of standardized testing, it is so easy to get caught up in scores and grades, rather than what really matters. What matters? This question came to mind the other day as I was getting ready to talk about the importance of senior year with my English classes. Grades matter in terms of a student’s transcript and getting into college, however, there are certain skills that cannot be ignored for the sake of coverage or earning the desired grade. First, the content itself is not always the long-term effect of an academic class. I do not remember the details about some of the books I read in high school or the chemistry concepts I worked so hard to master. However, I did gain skills that have had a long-lasting impact on my life. Through these classes, I learned time management, the importance of deadlines, persistence, and how to respond to disappointment and adversity. Participating in sports, such as cross country and track also helped in these areas. Furthermore, working...