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 couldn’t help but smile when students accomplished something, and the entire room erupted in cheers. It is contagious. Students grew in their courage as the afternoon wore on, challenging themselves to greater accomplishments. I even completed a couple of challenges because of the encouragement of students.
Furthermore, and maybe more importantly, when a student was hurt or disappointed the other students were there to pick them up and tell them to try again. What they were exhibiting was kindness in action. They were not just saying all the right things, they were doing them. It truly was a community of unique individuals who wanted to see each other succeed. I did not see jealousy, envy, or teasing, only positive reinforcement, and it was contagious. What if our classrooms and our daily lives operated more in this manner? It would be nice to bottle it up that community and pass it out for free whenever it was needed in our world. I, for one, felt as good about that day of school than one in which students all earn an A on a test. This might matter more.
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| If you zoom in you can see my terror. |
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| Mrs. Wise and I were encouraged by the students to challenge ourselves beyond what we thought we could do. |
Haha, you and miss wise look so cool!
ReplyDeleteThey really are an awesome group of kids. You're right: they don't give themselves enough credit for their own actions. :)
ReplyDeleteYou rocked it on the ropes course! I am so glad that you felt encouraged by us! So glad you were there with us:)
ReplyDeleteyea that fun and got to try some new
ReplyDeleteNext year, (as a weird thing) I think it could be an interesting experiment afterwards to time people on some of the courses, and then compare their times with the amount of years they've lived with cats to study the fear reducing effects of cat pheromones for treatment of anxiety, but that was probably not the message I was supposed to learn from that trip.
ReplyDeletetrying something new is always different but exhilarating
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