HAPPY FRIDAY EVERYONE!
SWALLOW YOUR PRIDE
This week at Tampa Bay Athletics was Max Week. We take everything we've been working on the past few months, and we try to find our "maxes" for various lifts and skills. Usually, when I approach max week, I'm all fired up and pumped. This time, it felt different. I am a HUGE perfectionist, and I strive to do my best in everything I attempt, and I often strive to exceed my own expectations. I am very hard on myself when I try to attempt something, and I then fail. In fact, I would even take this a step further and say that one of my biggest fears is failure. After working out at TBA for over a year now, I feel like I've finally hit my plateau. I was trying for heavy maxes and I wasn't getting them. I would get angry, down on myself, and put up a mental block no matter how hard I tried. I found that my form was starting to break down the heavier I lifted, and finally, I was given a very valuable (and very frustrating) piece of advice by my coaches...
Suck up your pride and go down in weight.
It was time. Hitting a heavy weight DOES NOT MATTER or COUNT in my mind if my form is poor. It was very hard for me to admit that I need to take a step back, and it was very hard for me to swallow my pride, and lower my weight. I felt inadequate at first, and I felt that I was comparing myself to other women in the gym. I have since realized that there is nothing wrong with backing off my weight so that I can concentrate on finding my form again, and making sure that I am lifting correctly. Lifting heavy, but incorrectly, is how you get injured. It has taken me a few days to get in the right mindset, but now it's clear to me, and I am confident, that I will be right back up to where I was (AND HIGHER) in no time. "Swallowing my pride" is not something that's easy for me to do, but in the end, I have to trust my coaches, and I have to have confidence in myself that I can do it. I had to think of where I started, and where I am now. A year ago, I could barely back squat the bar, so backing down to 135 is STILL a huge gain, and I should be proud of myself!
Sometimes, you have to suck it up, swallow your pride, and move on! It's not giving up...it's growing up.
I WILL get back to beast mode.
RAISE THE BAR
"My students can't do that."
This is something that I have been guilty of saying in the past while creating lessons, and this is something that I have also heard fellow teachers say. There really isn't anything WRONG with this statement except for the fact that it contains the word "can't." The statement is usually said before a lesson or activity is taught, and the problem lies in the fact that the statement doesn't give the students a CHANCE to "do that." If we tried a lesson, and then said "My students COULD'T do that," it would be different. I feel that as a nation, we are not holding our children to high enough standards. We are assuming that their ability levels or test scores demonstrate that they "can't do it." We begin referring to students as an FCAT statistic or number by saying, "Johnny is a 2, he can't possibly make an inference like that." We SHOULD be saying, "Johnny is a 2, so what accommodations can I make to help him get that inference because I know he can." I find that I have to remind myself of the latter. I try to hold the bar HIGH in my classroom, and trust that we will find a way for all students to meet that bar. If we keep high expectations, students will meet them. It might take them a while, or they might take a different road, but they will meet them.
I created a lesson this week where my advanced students had to analyze how Edgar Allan Poe's life and writing have contributed to his nickname, "The Master of the Macabre." They looked at two texts on Poe as well as a mini-biography video. Today, they completed a portion of the lesson where they had to generate their own questions about their reading. I told them I wanted TRUE questions that we could use to facilitate a socratic discussion in class. I was EXTREMELY NERVOUS as they began because many of them were having difficulty. They found themselves coming up with "test questions" rather than their own questions based on what they wanted to know more about or what they were confused about. I was nervous for nothing! They more than exceeded my expectations, and they came up with questions like this...
Raise that bar. Hold these kids accountable. Make them work for it. Stop making excuses. This doesn't have to apply to academics only. This can apply to all aspects of life. I feel like our country can get stuck in the rut of doing "just enough to get by." Being average. I don't want my kids to be average. I want them to be spectacular, and I want them to take on everything they do with gusto, and with TENACITY. This whole idea of higher expectations also related to my gym situation this week. I WANT my maxes to go up, and I WANT to hold that bar high (literally and figuratively). That's why it was necessary to suck it up and swallow my pride. It might take me a while, just like it took my kids a while with the lesson today...but I will get there.
EMBRACE THE GOOD
Positive thoughts equal positive actions which equal positive results.
It can be very easy to get caught up in the negative. We all have things in our lives that cause us stress, or that make us distressed and unsettled. And some times it can be worse than others. It's ridiculously easy to let these things take over every aspect of your day, and consume your thoughts like a plague. The thing is, if you let the negative rule your existence, it not only affects you, but it affects those around you. My husband can tell when I'm in "negative mode" (he has a name for my alter-ego, negative self, Ruth), my students can tell, and my co-workers and family can tell.
It is absolutely vital to focus on and embrace the good in your life! Things happen, life can suck at times, but in order for you to get through the negative you have to concentrate on the positive. Lately, I've found myself thinking about some of the not-so-great things happening in my life, and that negativity filters down into everything. I whine more, I get frustrated easier, I take things out on the ones I love, and I'm tired and get headaches. NO BUENO. I have to force myself to look at the silver lining. Little things can bring me back into the world of the optimistic and the promising. It could be a kind word from someone, a killer workout with good friends, a yummy new recipe to try, spending time with family, watching my Gators play, or something like this...
I recently read some novels that I FELL IN LOVE WITH and recommended to my students. I posted them on my iREAD bulletin board and offered extra credit for reading them and writing a review. Today, I discovered two of my students were reading the books during homeroom. We proceeded to have the most phenomenal conversation about how much we were obsessed with them, and got so excited about possible sequels and the characters. It literally made my day to share something I love so much with my students, and to see their excitement in reading. They thought it was pretty cool that their teacher was reading the same books they were, and that we can have a fun chat about them during down time.
Little moments like this can make all the difference in the world when it comes to bringing you back to reality and being thankful for what you have, and reminding you to STAY POSITIVE.
This week was a long one, and a reflective one. I really needed to take some time on the blog today to work through some of my thoughts, and to be able to share them with others. I feel like these are life lessons that we can all use a reminder of once and a while.
I challenge you to think about how these three pieces of advice can fit into your own life.
BE AWESOME TODAY. BE AWESOME EVERYDAY. Otherwise...what's the point? :)
LOve this Mari
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