Taking Flight

“The NVIV (Next Vista Inspiring Video) series of posts are written by Rushton Hurley and designed to provide students and teachers with fascinating discussion prompts.”

In Taking Flight, Rushton features Bin Xu, a farmer who created his first successful aircraft out of his family’s farming equipment.

He gives the following prompts to accompany this video:
“Think about what people you know hope for, or perhaps something you yourself want to do. Perhaps there are barriers that seem insurmountable. Can you think of a clever way to make it happen?
What personal qualities does Mr Xu have that you admire?”

What an inspiration this video was! My mother used to say that where there was a will, there was a way. I felt the same way about going to college in the 1970s. My parents couldn’t afford to send me to college but I was determined to go. I found a way through loans, scholarships, and the work-study program. I want to encourage my students to find a way if they want to achieve a goal and never stop trying.

Please check out the video and think of other prompts you might come up with. Please share.

Speed Bump vs. Obstacle

In Speed bumps from Seth Godin's Blog, Seth Godin states,

“Often, the only difference between a speed bump and an obstacle is our decision about which one it is.”

When I have a problem, I try to work on it until I can solve it. Sometimes I ask for help but then I’m able to solve it. This is a speed bump.

When I give up, it becomes an obstacle and keeps me from achieving what I want to do. Giving up never solves the problem.

I try to get my students to understand that their learning disability is just a speed bump and not an obstacle. They might have to go slower over the speed bump but they will eventually reach their goal. Many of my students see their learning disability as a brick wall that can’t be penetrated. I feel it is my job to help them see that this is just an illusion. I want my students to see that I am there to help them see clearly. The more we work together the brick wall suddenly gets shorter and shorter. before long that brick wall disappears and in its place, it's just a little speed bump.

Unfortunately, this process does not happen overnight. It takes time and patience which many of my students do not have. They feel they have lost so much time that their peers are speeding past them. Because of this, they continually feel like they are beating their heads against the brick wall and getting them nowhere. I have to convince them that being patient and taking the time the move forward with me is worth the effort.

How do you help your students see the difference between a speed bump and an obstacle? Please share.

Photo by Riley Pitzen on Unsplash

Helplessness

Many of my students with disabilities feel helpless especially when they are overwhelmed. For so many years they have faced many failures and very few successes. They have been judged by others including family and friends as being lazy or stupid. Every time they try and make an effort, they feel like they are kicked down. They start believing that maybe they are lazy and stupid so why bother even trying. Life looks hopeless to them.

I believe this is a feeling is learned helplessness and I spend a lot of time fighting it. I want to try to break this cycle and turn their lives around.

My words won’t do it because they have had so many years of practice hearing the negative words. Why should they believe me who they have only known for a short time while all the others in their world tell them differently? I could talk until I’m blue in the face but they won’t believe me. I have to find a way to show them.

I start by doing a lot of pretesting so I can find out their instructional levels. This is important because I want to begin with something they know how to do that is right at the edge of what they don’t know how to do. I want to do a lot of activities during the first couple of weeks that I know they can be successful doing. I praise and encourage them a lot during this time including phone calls home letting their family know how well they are doing. My students aren’t fooled though and are a little suspicious but I keep plodding on.

After I feel they are comfortable with my process, I slip in a few harder tasks that I know they can do successfully with my help. Again, a lot of praise and encouragement goes a long way. Some of my students are surprised they are successful but they are afraid to hope. During this time, I have to be very patient and encouraging with my students because they are waiting for the shoe to fall and failure to occur again. Eventually, I will have them do the work while slowly taking away my help. It is like teaching a child to ride a bicycle and you hold the bike for a while until you have to let go so they can do it on their own. This may take another month or two but it is important to be patient.

I spend a lot of time the whole year talking to the students about taking a risk and trying harder things because I’m here to help them. I won’t let them fail. If I see them falling, I will be there to catch them. If they fall down, I will be there to help them get up. They are not alone.

I explain that everyone faces failures but what they do after them is what counts. President Lincoln ran for different political offices several times before he eventually became President. He didn’t give up and his failures made him more determined to succeed. Even Bill Gates had several failures before he found Microsoft. The ones that you never hear about are the ones that gave up after failing.

Before long, my students will start adding successes to their list of things they do and will have more courage to learn new things. My next step is to teach them what to do when I am not there and they leave my classroom. How do they go about finding help for what they want to learn? This is an important step to teaching independence.

Eventually, their helplessness begins to fade away, and hope for success takes its place.

How do you battle helplessness? Please share.

Photo by Roi Dimor on Unsplash

Being Perfect

In Walking away from the idée fixe from Seth Godin's Blog by Seth Godin shares, 

 “It’s going to be exactly like THIS. It has to be, and I don’t want to hear otherwise.”

This had me wondering about when people began to think that something has to be perfect. Are we taught this by our parents? Our teachers? Who instills this perception into our mind?

Do we think that if it is not perfect, we are a failure? If it isn’t perfect, something can’t work. How do we determine that something needs to perfect or that near perfect is just as good?

There may be times where perfection is vital. If someone is building my house, I would hope that the measurements are perfect, so my house won’t fall in on top of me. If someone is operating on my body, I hope that the surgeon has perfected his skills. That would not be a time that I want the surgeon to believe that near perfect was okay.

I remember when my husband was writing a paper for class and he agonized over it. He would argue that it just wasn’t perfect yet. As the deadline approached, he became more stressed and it still wasn’t perfect. Eventually I was able to talk him into submitting it even though it was just near perfect to him. I’m not sure all the time in the world would have ever been enough time for it to ever be perfect.

I know that when I was learning to sew something my seams were not perfect. But I accepted it because I didn’t think that anyone was going to look that closely and I know that I was still learning.

Even now that I’ve been knitting for 12 years, I have made many things and I don’t believe any of them were perfect. I could have improved each item in some way or I might have made a mistake that I noticed after it was completed.

I want to instill in my students that they should strive for perfection but not beat themselves up if things aren’t perfect as they are learning. But that when a life depends on what they are doing, they need feel confident that they can be perfect.

In order to get to the point where they can achieve perfection, there can be many attempts (over days, months, or even years) where they will not be perfect. It is from these trials that the real learning takes place. It is from the errors that we correct which help lead to perfection.

The most important thing to being successful is to not give up. Perfection will never come to those who stop trying.

Photo by Jonathan Hoxmark on Unsplash 

Investing in Learning

In The 100 hour asset from Seth Godin's Blog, Seth Godin shares,

“If you invest 100 hours in a rare skill, you’re likely to acquire it.”

I played an accordion since I was four years old and I still play it occasionally. I have invested over 100 hours in learning this musical instrument.

I have been writing since I was a young child and I really enjoy it. I would say that I have over 100 hours invested in it also.

In 2007, I started working with fiber. I began crocheting, then knitting, and then spinning yarn. I still love it and do it daily. I can’t imagine not doing this and I like creating new things.

I have tried several things that I didn’t invest the hours into it. Either I didn’t like it or it didn’t hold my interest. Obviously, I didn’t acquire the necessary skills to be good at it.

I have spent my entire life invested in learning. As a young child, I liked learning new things and getting better at some of the things. As I grew older, I became more specific in the things that I wanted to learn. Even now, I find things that I’m interested in learning how to do. Some things I want to continue to learn about and others may fall to the wayside.

I want to help my students learn that they need to invest the time into a skill if they want to get better at it.

If they want to get better with a musical instrument, they need to consistently practice at it.

If they want to be a better athlete, they need to put in the hours of training.

If they want to be a better reader, they need to read more.

If they want to be a better artist, they need to work hard on creating art.

If they want to get better at gaming, they need to put in the hours of practice.

In this age of instant gratification, most skills do not get perfected immediately and many people get disappointed in this. Usually with patience and hard work, the skill is perfected, but it takes time. Time may be days, months, or even years.

Students seem to think that everything comes easy for everyone else than themselves.

One way that I like to show this to students is to model my learning process. I like to take photos and reflect on my learning from the very beginning. I monitor my progress with more photos and more reflection either on a weekly or monthly basis. When I look back at my starting attempts, I can feel proud of my progress and see how much I have improved.

How do you help your students learn that they need to invest their time into learning? Please share.

Photo by Jonathan Chng on Unsplash

Do It Differently

Recently I finished knitting my first pair of color work socks. I enjoyed the pattern but when they were done, they did not fit my feet. I normally knit toe-up socks and this pattern was cuff-down. I also changed the heel which meant I had to rearrange the order of the charts. The heel was too baggy and the foot was too long. I entered the picture of the finished socks into a Knit-a-Long so that I would be eligible for prizes but I was not happy with the finished product. I liked the pattern and my yarn but I was so disappointed.

At first I thought that they would sit on my shelf of finished projects but I knew I would never wear them. Then I decided to rip them out and knit them from the toe up. This involved turning the charts upside down. I also cut apart the charts and taped them in the order I needed so that I would find them easier to follow instead of having to constantly remind myself not to do the order it was in. I am so much happier with the final product! The socks fits me the way I wanted them to do!

I’m so glad that I didn’t give up. I would have wasted some beautiful yarn too.

The designer of the sock pattern wrote it in a way that worked for her. Just because it didn’t work for me doesn’t mean that the design is wrong or poorly written. I just had to tweak it so that it would work for me. I just had to figure out a way to do it differently to make it fit my needs and wants.

That is what I want to teach my students. If they don’t understand something or the final result doesn’t match their expectations, then they need to think about doing it differently. Find a way that works for them. Just because they do it differently doesn’t mean that it is wrong. It means that they have found a way to make it work.

The problem with trying to do it differently means that we take a risk. I took a risk by trying the pattern the first time since I’ve never done color work or cuff-down socks. Then I took another risk by ripping it out and trying it a different way. I’m happy that it worked the second time. If it hadn’t, I may have tried it a third way if I thought there was another way to figure it out. Sometimes challenges can motivate me to try different things.

What is something that you have had to try in a different way? Please share.

Original photo by Pat Hensley

Don’t Give Up

Recently we worked on our lawn irrigation system. We had to replace a couple of sprinkler heads and then we had a busted pipe in two places. We fixed one break only to find out that we had another break. Eventually, everything was working again except for the programming. I thought I was so smart and went on YouTube to see how to program the four zones. I knew it all worked before we started working on the system so it should work okay when we were done. I was so wrong! I even spent almost two hours on the phone with an Orbit customer service representative who finally told me that I had to call an irrigation specialist in my area and have them check valves and solenoids. I was so discouraged when I got off the phone.

After pouting for a few minutes, I refused to give up. Fixing that controller was like working on a puzzle and I had to find the correct combination to make it work right. I knew that it had worked before and that I hadn’t done anything that would cause it not to work other than mess with the programming on the controller. Eventually, I had the right combination and it worked right! I figured out the puzzle! My husband says I like a challenge and I guess I do. I’m glad I didn’t take the advice of the Orbit representative and I'm glad I didn’t spend a lot of money calling an irrigation specialist to mess with parts that were working fine. Sometimes you just have to trust your gut.

I feel that teaching is a lot like this. Helping students learn new skills is like conquering a puzzle. I have to try to find the right combination for each individual student that works the best. Sometimes I get frustrated and so does the student. It would be so easy to give up but I have to keep on trying. My student is counting on me just like I counted on the Orbit representative. I don’t want to tell the student that they need to call in someone else because I want to be the one to help the student succeed. I don’t want the student to have to struggle with his one in order to find the answer if I can help him in any way. I need to trust my gut and not give up. I need to help the student have faith and believe in himself too. By not giving up, I’m being a role model for the student.

How do you help your students to keep trying and not give up? Please share.

Photo by Kreated Media on Unsplash

An Uphill Journey

In Uphill both ways from Seth Godin's Blog , Seth Godin shares,

“Newton had it right… you’re going to need to go uphill in order to go downhill.”

It seems like everything I’ve accomplished and felt proud of has been an uphill battle.

Goals that I’ve wanted to achieve has been a struggle for me.

When it has been easy to achieve things, I don’t feel the sense of accomplishment and pride about them as I do the ones that I had to work for. Those seem more of a stroke of luck and happenstance than actually a product of hard work.

But while I’m working towards the goal, I feel I’m putting a lot of sweat equity into it whether it involves mental or physical labor. As I struggle to reach my goal, I feel stress and a sense of inadequacy but I push myself on. I refuse to give up because giving up would be a failure to me. Not achieving my goal but knowing I gave it my best would be tolerable even if I wasn’t happy with the result.

Once I have worked hard and put in lots of time and energy, I can enjoy the pleasure I feel for completing my task. This is my downhill. I ride this pleasure all the way down and feel joy in my heart.

It is this work ethic that I want to instill in my students. I want them to try and give their best effort when working towards their goals. They may face obstacles and feel like giving up but they need to dig deep into themselves and push themselves to finish.

I will be there to encourage them when they are feeling down. When I feel like their energy is flagging, I will be there to offer support. When they want to give up, I will be there to help them push on. They will not have to fight the uphill journey alone.

I want them to feel the pride of reaching their goals and knowing that their hard work paid off. I want them to be able to ride the downhill feeling joy and a sense of accomplishment and pride.

How do you help your students on the uphill journey? Please share.

Photo by Anthony Da Cruz on Unsplash

Resilience

According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary: resilience is “an ability to recover from or adjust easily to misfortune or change.”

I recently heard a podcast that talked about resilience. It talked about how when we were more of an agricultural society, children learned about resilience and handling things that they couldn’t control. In today’s society, children tend to have life much easier and aren’t learning how to be resilient. This had me thinking about what I do in the classroom to help students learn to be more resilient. Instead of always solving problems for them, I need to help them figure out ways to solve their own problems.

As a society, we work too hard to make sure our children are comfortable. We don’t want them to want for anything, so we give them too much. It is time to take a step back and help them become more independent.

When my children were growing up, I had a really hard time letting them face natural consequences as long as it didn’t put them in fatal danger.  For example, I wanted to tell them to put a jacket on if I knew it was going to get cold. This sometimes led to arguments and tantrums. Once I learned to back off, they learned to get a jacket in preparation of being cold, because they learned that the last time they forgot, they had to deal with the cold. We weren’t able to return home for them to get their jackets. Natural consequences are a good teacher and it kept me from being the bad guy.

When students forget their school supplies, I can have them discuss ways to solve this problem instead of just giving them what they don’t have. They could borrow from someone else. They could buy some from the school store. They could call home and ask someone to bring them their supplies.

When students don’t turn in their homework, I can find out why they don’t have it and how to fix this in the future. If they did it but left it home, they could call and ask someone to bring it to school. They could take a low grade and turn it in late. If there is an organizational problem, I can help them work out a process that can become a better habit for storing their homework. If they are having a time management problem, I can help them work out a homework schedule.

If they are having a conflict with another student or teacher, I can have them write out the problem. Then they can list possible solutions that would end the conflict. By brainstorming possibilities, it might open up new possibilities. It might also help any future conflicts that might happen.

When students have problems with their classwork, I can help them verbalize their problems instead of letting them just feel frustrated. Once they can understand what their problem is, they can start looking at ways to solve the problem. If they just ignore the problem, it will only get worse.

What are you doing to help your students learn resilience? Please share.