Saturday, September 13, 2008

Triumph of the Common Man

I love the "diamond in the rough." I love the story of Forrest Gump. The olympics was great to watch, but to compete at the olympics, you must be born with gifts AND you must work hard to attain excellence. I love the underdog who was not given the gifts at birth, but through grit and determination, from the sweat of their brows and the strength of their backs, a common man achieves excellence.


I love the story of Paul Potts




I love the story of Andrew Johnson:



When Simon asked him how what he will do about being bullied. Andrew simply grins and shrugs and says "carry on singing."

Courage never comes first. This is what I want all my middle school students to know. Find the thing that makes your heart spark, pursue it relentlessly, and when you come to your first fork in the road, where you can truly shine or fall flat, you seldom get to feel courageous at the outset. Act courageous, and courage comes afterwards.

We can use the internet to bring the courageous and the exceptional into our classrooms. We can inspire our students to treat lessons and assignments as stepping stones to greatness.

No comments: