Bird droppings September 18, 2011
Endeavor to persevere

“It’s not that I’m so smart, it’s just that I stay with problems longer.” Albert Einstein

How do you teach perseverance that stick-to-itiveness that we want students to have. I watch many teachers flounder when students leave that realm of attention and then teachers claim there is no work ethic. I wonder if we have a genetic propensity for work or is that a modeled behavior something we have learned and or acquired along the way.

“Perseverance is not a long race; it is many short races one after another.” Walter Elliott, The Spiritual Life

“People are always blaming their circumstances for what they are. I don’t believe in circumstances. The people who get on in this world are the people who get up and look for the circumstances they want, and, if they can’t find them, make them.” G.B. Shaw, Mrs. Warren’s Profession, 1893

There is a certain amount of self involved in perseverance, a certain amount of desire to do more than that which is where we are. There is perhaps an ability to not be content with current situations and a desire to do more than what is expected.

“There is no telling how many miles you will have to run while chasing a dream.” Author Unknown

“The drops of rain make a hole in the stone not by violence but by oft falling.” Lucretius

Mountains are worn away a drop of water at a time and mountains are built up much in the same manner. I recall seeing the limestone formations in caves formed by dripping mineral rich water over thousands of years some hundreds of feet tall and some hanging from the ceiling of the caves hundreds of feet down stony icicles.

“But the moment you turn a corner you see another straight stretch ahead and there comes some further challenge to your ambition.” Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr

I am sure Sherlock Holmes never said “I quit” but quite the contrary often at that moment when all seems lost he would continue on just a minute piece of evidence to solve the crime. But how do we teach this wonderful perseverance and how do we instill in students in children and even in adults. My wife and I were talking and she mentioned how with some children a disability such as Obsessive Compulsive Disorder can be good in school staying on task and such of course the down side is when that obsession is coming in and out of the room ten times or giggling incessantly. But how do we get that OCD type attribute in a positive way into others, that intuitive stay with it get the job down. I recall trying to open a door when we moved in and had a set of keys probably thirty or so and trying each one and dropping the ring only to start again.

“Don’t be discouraged. It’s often the last key in the bunch that opens the lock.” Author Unknown

I really do think nature makes it the last key on purpose it just always seems to happen that way; never will the first key be the right one. Occasionally I will scan the P drive at school. The public drive where is where students place projects and files with that many are incomplete or partial efforts. They are ideas that were great when conceived and left to dwindle. Maybe we could put something in the water or maybe we could find a way to increase adrenalin flow when ideas begin. Maybe we could model the behavior we want there are so many maybes in this world. So where do we turn and what direction do we look when we try to get students to try one more time, A sneaky favorite of mine is the wonderful twenty minutes to get ten minutes. OK class there is ten minutes left after two or three minutes in OK class nine more minutes and I find it amazing if the flow is there how many people will never look at the clock and continue working. I was working with two guys who were ready to quit when they started and we got nearly an hour and a half of work done in ten minutes.

“The great majority of men are bundles of beginnings.” Ralph Waldo Emerson

It is up to us as parent’s teacher’s friends to keep the beginnings going and to maintain that flow of energy.

“Saints are sinners who kept on going.” Robert Louis Stevenson

So often in life a great idea is one that was simply continued another step. Thomas Edison is the wonder king of perseverance and even after thousands of failures he kept going and finally found the right combination of glass, gas, and fiber for a light bulb.

“If we are facing in the right direction, all we have to do is keep on walking.” Buddhist Saying

Sometimes in life it is only turning a child slightly where they can face the right direction and the problem is solved. In working with a group of teachers this past weekend I found so many teachers and parents cannot see that there is more than one right direction. We all are different and it is that individualism that is the driving force of mankind. Finding the direction and keep on walking is what this is all about. Please keep all in harm’s way on your mind and in your hearts.
namaste
bird