Success is often measured by our comparison to others. Excellence, on the other hand, is all about being the best we can be by maximizing our gifts, talents, and abilities to perform at our highest potential. Thus was the interesting conversation I had with a parent this morning regarding classroom expectations and school versus home success…
It’s so true; we live in a world that focuses on success and comparison. We are all guilty of doing this, however, I believe that to be our personal best, we must focus more on excellence and less on success. We must focus on being the best we can personally be and realize our greatest competition is not someone else, but ourselves.
For example and in keeping with our sports theme here, a focus on excellence was the key for golfing legend Jack Nicklaus (thanks, daddy, for sharing this story with me–see, I really do listen!). Mr. Nicklaus’ secret was to play the course not play the competition. He simply focused on playing the best he could play against the course he was playing. While others were competing against him, he was competing against the course and himself.
We have a choice as individuals, as instructional teams of learners, as parents, and as families. We can choose to focus on success and spend our life looking around to see how our competition is doing – or – we can look straight ahead towards the vision of greatness we have for ourselves and our teams. We can look at competition as the standard – or – as an indicator of our progress towards our own standards. We can chase success – or – we can embark on a quest for personal excellence. We can focus 100% of our energy to become our personal best and let success find us . . . and the truly ironic note here is when our goal focuses on personal excellence the outcome is usually great personal success! 🙂
sharing a special moment with a young learner who brought this beautiful story from home. While the text was all Spanish (I read Spanish fine; my translation is not so good!), this little friend shared her interpretation of the text. With colorful illustrations and a simple yet poignant text, the story unfolds with the powerful message of being thankful for each and every day we are given–choosing an attitude of gratitude. The many facets of our world provide a reason for each of us to stop and be thankful each day. Think about a sunrise, a sunset, flowers, floating clouds, or birds singing…all these natural events encompass our daily lives and are present to remind us of the many blessings we are given to treasure.
“Honor to the soldier and the sailor everywhere, who bravely bears the country’s cause. Honor also to the citizen who cares for the brother of the field, and serves, as he best can, the same cause…” These powerful words spoken by President Abraham Lincoln pledged support and thanks for the service and work of our nation’s veterans.
a highly elite group of Americans who have cleared the seas, charged the hills, and covered the skies in defense of our freedom. We honor our veterans and their families and say thanks for serving our country!
Fifth grader, Heather, beautifully sang the words to the “Star-Spangled Banner” followed by the chorus singing a touching rendition of “The Pledge of Allegiance.” Other songs included were “Thank a Vet,” “Welcome Home,” and “There You’ll Be.” Handbell Ringers enthusiastically played “America the Beautiful” and “My Country ‘Tis of Thee.” Special projects created by 5th grade learners shared research and interesting facts about the service divisions of the armed forces. All students were invited to display pictures and information of veterans connected to our campus on the annual Wall of Honor.
Van Am Gram 