Three great young ladies

I have the amazing opportunity to teach so many great young men and women.  I just thought I would write about three of them today.

Isabel Griffith is probably the most talented runner in the state of Maryland.  In a school that has a great history for women cross country runners she just smashed the course record by 29 seconds.  What is great about Isabel is that she brings that same work ethic into the classroom.  If for some reason she does not understand a concept she will ask a neighbor, if they can not explain it she will raise her hand and ask me.  Finally, if it still is not straight in her mind she will come up to me at the end of class, to make sure she has the concept correct.  It is this tenacity to refuse to leave the classroom without total understanding that makes her a great student.  The GRIT I see in the classroom is the same GRIT her coach sees in practice everyday.

Isabel-Garcia-Garcia is another great young lady.  Unfortunately for her she has me two times a day.  Once for economics and once for psychology.  Earlier this year I showed a clip about Will Smith saying that "He will die before he gets off the treadmill"  That he refuses to allow anyone to outwork him.  Isabel has that same GRIT.  While economics does not come easy to her she refuses to give in, call it hard or do anything but give it her total effort.  She also will ask her partner for help, if that does not work she will schedule a lunch appointment with me to grasp the concepts.  As educators we often get tied up in grades, concepts but we forget that one of the most important ingredients for success is GRIT.  There is no doubt in my mind this young lady will be successful, because there is no quit in her.

Jenny Ingliss is the third young lady I would like to talk about in this blog.  I had her in psych where things came pretty easy for her.  However, almost everyone has some questions or some concepts that they are not sure about in economics.  Jen is another person who will slow me down, ask a question and then re-ask it to make sure that she understands the concept.  This often happens even when she gets the question right on the test!!!!!!!!!!!!!  While the grade is important to her she still wants to make sure that she understands the concept for the next time.  After her class, I often have hall duty, and a couple of times this year she has followed me out to the steps to ask me questions.  Again, the refusal to leave the class without totally understanding is what makes her great.

This has been a good week for me.  I thank all my students for energizing me.