Climbing Stairs

I set very high expectations for my students and try to model it by setting high expectations for myself, working hard, and verbalizing how it feels when I am reaching my personal goals. I teach to the top of the class, fill in gaps and add support as needed, yet still find myself disappointed when my students don't show what they know at those magical moments of testing.  Kids always amaze me, though.  After almost twenty- five years in education, I am still surprised by some as they go through school, graduate, and begin college/careers (or not). Overachievers. The Cheerleaders. Underdogs. Late Bloomers. Invisible Climbers. Slow but Surelies. The Easily Frustrated... You know them and the characteristics. We often wonder who they really are going to be when it will really matter someday.

I think part of that "when it really matters" has to do with work ethic.  It's something I try to teach, but it is hard to do. I would predict most teachers would say that it starts at home and then you just set high expectations in the classroom.  That's not really teaching it, though. That's expecting it. The following story is an example of an opportunity I was able to have with my class last spring. I hoped to teach what having a strong work ethic looks like and feels like and build associated vocabulary at the same time...


I ran across this video last year while looking for something else.  I ended up sharing it with my second grade students and it led to the best conversation and writing I had from them all year.  Take a look:

Ducklings -vs- Stairs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JHy6bBKu0j4

We ended up having to watch it multiple times to truly understand, but these were some of my observations and comments heard:

As the video started, most students were feeling very sorry for them, yet cheering them on.  When the man speaks of helping, and the lady's voice says no, many initially thought she should have.  They needed her help.  They were worried the mother would leave them behind and cheered at the end when she didn't and the last one finally made it to the top.

At that point we stopped to discuss further.
Why didn't she want the man to help?  What would have happened if the little ducklings would have never made it up the stairs?  Or if only one hadn't have made it? Why did the mother even go that way in the first place? Do animals do this on purpose?  What was she "saying" to her ducklings?

We watched it again, stopped and commented along the way. They started getting it.  They saw my purpose.


How are we like those duckling? What would happen if someone helped us with every "step" in life every single time?  What couldn't we learn to do on our own?  Is struggling good for us?  When is struggling good and when is struggling bad?  Is it the same for everyone?  What does good struggling look like in a class room?  How can we be good at  encouraging like the mother duck?  How could we be harmful to our classmates (like the man wanted to be?)

We made a word cloud, used a thesaurus and started finding the association of words like difficult, hard-working, perseverance, grit, rigor, stick-to-itive-ness, stamina, diligence, dedication, commitment, endurance, goal, and success.  Wow. Those sure are fun words to talk about, use in their response writing that day and then continue to hear used in classroom conversations.

We kept that word cloud up for nearly the remainder of the year. They liked recognizing and using those words when they knew they were being diligent or showing endurance.  Honestly, some days I think I am the only one on the top step and I'm just a quacking away cheering my best to keep them going. A few make it and others give up. Other days more get to the top and help me out by encourage others.

And then there are the Great Days. The Great Moments. When one of my Slow-But-Surelies reaches the top finally, and says, "Mrs. Price, that was hard. Hard is fun. And that feels good!"