On the Middle School professional develop blog this week, Chris posted a TED talk by Malcolm Gladwell discussing the story of David and Goliath. Everyone is familiar with the story about the lowly shepherd slaying the giant Philistine warrior on a battlefield in Israel over 3000 years ago and how this story has continued to serve as a rallying cry when an individual or team overcomes seemingly overwhelming odds to accomplish something that seemed impossible before the challenge or event began. In his talk, Gladwell opines that if we really breakdown every attribute of each of the two participants in the duel, Goliath actually should have been considered the underdog. However, history has permanently given the title of underdog to David. I bring this up because I believe that we each can learn something from this. Educators, myself included, have a tendency to take on the underdog’s mentality when we think about and discuss the CCSS and our students. We’ve all thought to ourselves that there is no way our kids are going to be able to meet these insanely difficult standards. This is where I think we need to step back and analyze each aspect of the situation and the people involved. Are the standards more rigorous and challenging? Of course. Will our students struggle at first? Perhaps. Can our students achieve? I believe they can. Like David was overlooked and underestimated in the story above, our students also possess knowledge and skills that will enable them to be successful. Instead of pointing out and listing all of the limitations our students have, focus on the abilities they possess and how we can build upon them so they can achieve success. Have a great weekend and TURN UP THE HEAT!!!!!!!
On the Middle School professional develop blog this week, Chris posted a TED talk by Malcolm Gladwell discussing the story of David and Goliath. Everyone is familiar with the story about the lowly shepherd slaying the giant Philistine warrior on a battlefield in Israel over 3000 years ago and how this story has continued to serve as a rallying cry when an individual or team overcomes seemingly overwhelming odds to accomplish something that seemed impossible before the challenge or event began. In his talk, Gladwell opines that if we really breakdown every attribute of each of the two participants in the duel, Goliath actually should have been considered the underdog. However, history has permanently given the title of underdog to David. I bring this up because I believe that we each can learn something from this. Educators, myself included, have a tendency to take on the underdog’s mentality when we think about and discuss the CCSS and our students. We’ve all thought to ourselves that there is no way our kids are going to be able to meet these insanely difficult standards. This is where I think we need to step back and analyze each aspect of the situation and the people involved. Are the standards more rigorous and challenging? Of course. Will our students struggle at first? Perhaps. Can our students achieve? I believe they can. Like David was overlooked and underestimated in the story above, our students also possess knowledge and skills that will enable them to be successful. Instead of pointing out and listing all of the limitations our students have, focus on the abilities they possess and how we can build upon them so they can achieve success. Have a great weekend and TURN UP THE HEAT!!!!!!!
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AuthorI'm Ben Rubey, Instructional Coach at Excelsior Springs Middle School. Archives
April 2015
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