“I see beauty in that struggle.”
Kobe Bryant
Kobe has said this a couple of different ways, but whenever he does he is usually talking about a season ending injury and his recovery. Although my students are quite a way from becoming a professional athlete, I found it interesting how this quote mad its’ way into my class.
During one of our math test a student saw me smirking as a couple of students starting throwing mini tantrums when they saw how much work they were going to complete before our test on Friday. And before I could say anything the complaints came rolling in. “All of it… Do by Friday, are you sure?… Why do you hate us?…”
I knew it was a lot but at the same time I knew that with the practice my students would do fine. But after class the student who saw smirk came up to me and asked why I was smiling as I saw them get their work. She asked how could I be so mean. I then challenged her, as a student who understands the material to help her fellow classmates and friends learn the math, and if she did maybe she would get that same smirk.
Throughout the week she did and on Friday morning I asked if her classmates were ready and how things went. She talked about how frustrating it was because at first they did not get the concept, how exhausting it was to just get them to focus and try, how funny some of the outrageous answers were. She mentioned how she was still unsure if the students she helped were going to pass.
I passed out the test and we watched. We watched those same kids who complained look at the test. Two of those students smiled and got to work, the others flipped through the pages stressfully. When the test was over, I graded the assessment. When we looked at the grades they all passed, B+, B+, A, and an A-. My helper was shocked and ecstatic that she was able to help.
I called the students back into class and asked them how they were able to do so well. They attributed their grades to the help and that the test was so much like the classwork. “It was like I knew the question already,” one stated.
When I talked with the class to answer the question about why I smiled when I saw people complaining about the homework, I spilled the beans. I told them that as students they are happy when they see their grades, I told them as their teacher I am happy when I see them get it. I knew that the students who complained knew the material as they had practiced it online already. I took off my shoe (the shoe in the picture above) and told them, I see the beauty in the struggle.
When was the last time you struggled with something? How did you handle it?