Helping Our Students Celebrate Success
All this talk the past weeks about discouragement, disappointment, etc., has made me really want to celebrate! To balance things out.
As I write this, I will (probably this week) become a grandmother for the FIRST time! My daughter Carly, and her wonderful husband JT, are expecting their first – a boy. 🩵 So, about 6 months ago, I started knitting! This pattern knit on the bias, and I picked a lovely mohair. Well, I made a bit of a mistake. Actually, a whole SET of mistakes. Given the twisted yarn, there were times when I was “pretty sure it was a stitch”, so I knit it. Those of you who are knitters may already know where this is going.
Well, by the time I got to the mid-point (diagonal) I had about 70 stitches too many!! Not wanting to rip it all out (persistence, right?) I decided to do some “random knit 2 together” as I continued toward the finish line. Well, what I ended up with was a blanket of an indeterminant shape 🫠:
I thought about calling it a bunting – you know, put the baby’s head in a corner and burrito-wrap them. My sister-in-law suggested adding a button, to make it look intentional. I was discouraged 🫤 – after all, not a good start on the grandma train… I withdrew. I mourned. I was annoyed. And then, I remembered: blocking! Maybe it would help…
So, I found my resilience, reviewed a great YT video, took the sheets off the guest room bed so I could use the mattress for pinning, got my level and measuring tools, and went to work. And, after 2 days, it looked like this:
Wow - Success 🎉. I felt just like the characters I’ve been watching:
It’s so important to recognize successes. To stop for a moment and appreciate effort. To feel gratitude for achievement. When we stop in time to think about moments when we succeed, we build our resilience, our understanding that sometimes (not always) we will reach our goal. 💪
For many of our students, successes feel “few and far between.” Or seem dwarfed by what they see as too many mistakes. Sometimes adults forget to notice success and good choices, focusing too easily on errors and next areas of improvement. Let’s take some time this week, as the year draws to a close, to help our students reflect on their successes. Here are two examples from groups last week:
This student really wanted to go to a campout ⛺, NOT a friend’s sleepover. But, there was pressure from friends and parents to go to the sleepover. My student was pretty inflexible, but finally found a way to move along the flex continuum. The sleepover started at the arcade, which my student reported to be “no fun” (“I kept thinking about the campout”), nor was the dinner (“I still wished I was at the campout.” ) When things finally got to the friend’s house, he said the actual sleepover was really fun, especially watching the cats play after everyone else went to sleep. And the next morning was fun also! The student’s takeaway: sometimes my parents have good ideas, and if I can be flexible, it is actually works out really well! He saw it as a breakthrough in his ability to be flexible – success! 👏
Another student told a tale of handicrafts. Not very good at sewing 🪡, he struggled with a project. Lots of feelings, and, finally, it was complete. He felt proud, not just of the end product, but of how he kept going even though stitching neatly was hard! Another success to be noticed and celebrated! 🎊
What successes will your students remember? It might take a minute, since it’s not a question they are often asked. But give them a minute, and I bet they will have a tale to tell!
