Monday, February 2, 2009

RESILIENT

Memo Minutes
Volume Five. February 2, 2009

Students today live in a fast track society filled with fast food, fast technology and fast choices. Everything comes at them so quickly.
However, success oftentimes comes slowly after multiple attempts and frequent repeats. As educators we have the awesome opportunity to demonstrate to our students how to be resilient. We can teach our students how to be durable, strong and forbearing. We have the remarkable privilege to put an imprint on our student’s lives of what endurance looks like –the endurance to keep on keeping at something. We can show our students the determination to work at the same goal multiple ways, for long lengths of time until the desirable outcome is obtained.
This is being resilient.
There were many in history that was resilient in spite of having frequent disappointments. These are some of the people we speak about and teach about during Black History Month which is America’s History because of the impact their contributions made on all of America. These clouds of witnesses cheer us on because they experienced what it is like to be durable, strong, and resilient against insurmountable odds. They knew how to continue moving forward resisting all kinds of obstacles and oppositions. They were resilient and resistant to the hurdles thrown at them and they found creative ways to navigate around, through, and beyond until they overcame.
And now we can gain encouragement from our history in order to teach this life skill to our students. Here is how:
When we are resistant to low performance, we are being resilient.
When we are resistant to labels, we are being resilient. When we do not allow labels
to define us or limit us then we are being resilient.
We will resist discouragement. We will resist fatigue. We will model for our students how to be resilient, how to forbear, how to be steadfast and always abounding and how to be durable. We will continually seek to differentiate ways to teach our students until they reach the desirable outcome of becoming life long learners.
WE ARE A RESILIENT STAFF OF COMMITTED EDUCATORS! WE ARE PETREE!
Shelia Burlock, Principal
Quote for the minute: "Education is not filling a pail but the lighting of a fire." William Butler Yeats, Irish poet and dramatist