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Perseverance Builder
Sharing Our ExperiencesWho among us hasn´t had daydreams that go something like this: You´re playing the piano on a concert stage. All eyes are upon you, admiring you. Guess what you forgot to do? The answer: practice. You´re standing at a podium, before a crowd of thousands, about to make the most important speech of the decade. Guess what you forgot to do. The answer: write it. Sparking the ConversationFocus on a dream that you like to see happen. Tell your children about it. For example, a parent might sit down to a banquet every night (all right, once a week) without having to pay for it, shop for it or cook it. A child might come home with an all-A´s report card without having read the books, written the papers or studies for the tests. How we wish these dreams could come true, just like that. But reality is different. Talk together about how to realize your dreams. Who can help with that banquet? What books and paper need to be read and done to get those good grades? To have that banquet, to get those grades, takes time, effort and perseverance — sticking at something until it is accomplished. Perseverance Builder: Newspaper ActivityGood writing needs ideas that are united, combined and tied together to make a logical whole. Find words in big-sized letters in the newspaper. Cut them out. The goal is to combine these words into logical sentences. Let´s say you choose the words "toys," "trip," "sunny," "teachers." You might come up with this: "On sunny days, teachers often let their classes take toys with them on school trips." Even when the ideas defeat logic, putting them together provides good mental exercise, gives everyone lots of laughs and teaches perseverance. Moving to Bigger QuestionsIs the journey to a goal really the best part, or is the best part finally getting there? Is stubbornness always a bad thing? Can it be good sometimes? How do we force ourselves to do things we don´t want to do? © Dorothy Rich, 2000. The nonprofit Home and School Institute, sponsor of the MegaSkills program, was founded by Dr. Dorothy Rich in 1964. For information about bringing MegaSkills books and programs to your school and community group, contact: The Home and School Insitute, MegaSkills Education Center; 1500 Massachusetts Ave., NW, Washington DC 20005. Phone: (202) 466-3633. Fax: (202) 833-1400. www.MegaSkillsHSI.org Reprinted with permission. Intro | Newspaper Tips | NIE & You | Activities | MegaSkills | |||||
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