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Saturday, August 01, 2009

Life's Lessons.


When I was in my teaching credential program, the most profound lesson I learned has come back to me if not daily, certainly several times each year.

It's as if each person, the teacher shared, is born with a baggie. Each time something positive happens in that person's life, they add chips to their baggie. Whenever something negative happens, they lose chips.

Some students have baggies just stuffed with chips. These are the students who are willing to take a risk and raise their hand to participate. If they give a wrong answer or say something that elicits an unwanted laugh, they will lose some chips but they have so many it won't really matter.

Other students - for more reasons than I could begin to list - have few to no chips in their bag. They are not about to risk the few they have. So, they will not volunteer to participate unless they are pretty confident that, at least this once, they are correct. If that participation is rewarded with chips and they are more likely to try that again.

My bag has been feeling pretty light for some time now.
Big thanks to my family for making sure I got some chips today.


2 comments:

Chiloe said...

Pierre is the student with a bag almost empty, Emma on the contrary has a full bag. Don't understand why ...

Sandi Linn Andersen said...

That's an interesting thought. I just packed away a bag of chips that look just like those in your photo. Since we have never played poker at my house, I asked my husband where they came from. Turns out they belonged to his folks and when he was a kid, his folks used them when they played Bridge and 500. Getting "chips" like you mentioned is a very good thing and so important. I found your blog via Cinderberry Stitches. :-)