Building a Culture of Hope by Barr Robert D.;Gibson Emily L.;

Author:Barr, Robert D.;Gibson, Emily L.;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Solution Tree

Journal

A teacher aide in Salem, Oregon, shared a learning experience she had that related to purpose: “On a day when the teacher was absent and I had no real plans for the class, I turned to the chalkboard and drew something that looked like the ‘normal curve.’ After dividing the curve into a number of segments, I labeled each segment with sequential decades, starting with the decade when I had been born and ending with the decade when I would turn ninety. I placed an x to mark the date I was born, another x to mark my current age of forty-five, and a final x to indicate when I thought I might die. After explaining that my family tended to have long lives, I put the final x at ninety years of age. The kids all laughed and said, ‘You’ll never make it.’

“However, the students were surprisingly quiet and focused, something very rare for this class of unruly kids. I explained that the chart signified the curve of my life. I put x’s on the curve at various places and described how I grew up, later went to school, got married and had a family, and finally became a teacher aide. I then talked about my life curve in the future beginning to narrow as my life slowed down and I aged.

“At that point, I erased my curve, and plotted a new one that would represent my students’ lives, with dates that reflected their birth decade. I asked them to think about their own lives as I wrote in their decades. This class of tough city kids was totally engrossed as I shared the average life expectancy in the United States (around 80 years). I said, ‘Now just look at your life! What do you plan to do with your life? What will you accomplish? Who will you become? Many of the students seemed to ignore the discussion, saying, ‘We are going to live hard and die young.’ But even as the class laughed, you could tell that so many of the students were thinking about their lives and futures.

“I tried to help the kids see that they needed to be careful with their decisions and actions, and try not to screw up their lives. I kept repeating, ‘Just look at your life. Look at how much more living you have to do. Think about what you can do today that would make the rest of your life better.’ I believe that it was one of the best discussions I ever had with my students.” —B.B.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.