I recently gave a talk to some students. In that talk, I told a story about a former
student who ten days before the AP exams felt hopeless. This student scored 18/100 on the practice
exam and the disappointment was all over their face.
Most of us are disappointed after a poor performance, the key
is if we fall like a five, do we bounce back like a ten. I sat down next to the student and said, “If
you meet me every morning before school for a half hour we can pass this exam”
The student thought for a moment and then said, “I am all in”
When the student declared that they were all in, that meant
they no longer were wondering were they going to put in the time. They no longer were afraid of taking the
risk. Instead, the student had the
mindset what is not working. What do I
need to change and what resources do I have available?
Quickly my student realize the power of spacing out the
studying. That the 30 minutes we did
each day combined with the 30 minutes they did at home was truly working. That also working one on one with someone was
an extremely powerful way of learning.
Learning is not linear and there was still some difficulties
along the way. However, at the end the
student passed the exam. We both learned
some lifelong lessons. The student learned
what they needed to do to be successful.
The power of spacing out your learning, using your resources and most
importantly believing in yourself.
I learned that you could never give up on a student. That our jobs as teachers is to unlock the
potential in all our students. Remember,
we all get discouraged at times and have minor setbacks. The key is to bounce back from these setbacks
