I agree wholeheartedly , but mostly I just enjoyed reading this selection. It is nice to switch the focus from winners and losers to participants and it reminds me of previous experiences with the Special Olympics where everyone is a winer.
I try to use this all the time, especially in Cross COuntry right now. I have told all the kids that winning is not as important as it is for each of them to improve their own personal time. I told them that everyones goal is to have a faster time at the Big race. I said dont worry about finishing first, try to improve your own goal. So far it is working for every kid. They have all gotten faster in their personal time.
Personal best is a great way to help kids set goals. When personal bests are achieved it should be time for celebration. It is the little accomplishments that will ultimately get the student to that long range goal but we should be celebrating all along the way. The Lee Jenkins Conference that Leadership attended had some great ideas in this area!
This is the first thing that I work on with my students when it comes to assessments in the classroom. I always observe students in the beginning of the year racing through their assessments to be the first one's completed. They receive a lot of feedback from my observations and the discussion about quality and focusing on the details in their assessment to produce the best results which in turn will make them winners without coming in first. It is also important to allow students the ability to take their time on assessments and not put time constraints in which success could not be achieved to be winners. With proper environment expectations set-up for assessments, students quickly buy into the plan and see positive end results of achieving their goals for success.
I, too, try to nix the "I'm first" perpetual competition. I grew up in a family of ridiculously competitive athletes where if you were 2nd, you were the first loser. Personal pride and self satisfaction of a job well done, regardless of where you placed compared to others, is the true measure of success.
Reality check my friends....don't mean to sound glib but our society celebrates WINNERS...that means #1...second place loses. I couldn't agree more with all of the people who have responded but we have some work to do before we get kids to buy it. We recently experienced the Olympics...remember the frenzy and it was not about doing your best and being satisfied. As you know our society does not limit first place honors to just sporting events either. So if we are to convince kids that trying and doing their best is really what is important then we need to have open discussions about the importance of doing well and the internal satisfaction that can come from it. "Did you win?" is as American as apple pie...right or wrong. Some kids are much more competitive than others and they will need a lot of convincing that doing their best is as good as winning. I'm just saying...it will take a lot of deliberate effort. I think the result will be worth it.
I agree with Jo it will take a whole society to change, but never say never. The very competitive ones that have the goal of first place need to learn how to accept it when they don't make it in this one game, race etc.
I know that winning is an American obsession. However, I propose that we try to be a person/place where that is not the primary issue. I'm not too fond of "what did you like about it" when it is obvious that a student is disappointed. That feels wrong to me. It is simple enough to say "so, tell me about it" or even "how did it go?".
This section reminded me of field day. This day can be very difficult for the non-athletic students. Although we try to focus on the participating and having fun, as teachers we have witnessed the students missing out on the fun becuase they can not compete with the athletic students. What counts in the end are the "blue ribbons" and/or moving on to district.
Interesting. One of my kids just returned from a sports competition. I asked "How did it go?" The first thing out of his mouth was "We didn't win." I said that's okay" and he went on to talk about the other "successes" of the trip. It was almost as if he was waiting for my approval/permission to be okay with not coming in first in the competition.
This is a tough one, because kids are so competitive by nature. Even in the small speech sessions, the students want to compete. Who got the most right? Who has the most points? (when I tally responses)If we do a game activity, who is the winner? No matter how much I stress that we are doing the activity to practice our skills and I reinforce the good performance, there is that competition hanging in the air.
I have used this with my own kids and often they just roll their eyes. Even so, I think they do hear it and hopefully consider the benefits of the activity.
13 Comments:
I agree wholeheartedly , but mostly I just enjoyed reading this selection. It is nice to switch the focus from winners and losers to participants and it reminds me of previous experiences with the Special Olympics where everyone is a winer.
I try to use this all the time, especially in Cross COuntry right now. I have told all the kids that winning is not as important as it is for each of them to improve their own personal time. I told them that everyones goal is to have a faster time at the Big race. I said dont worry about finishing first, try to improve your own goal. So far it is working for every kid. They have all gotten faster in their personal time.
Personal best is a great way to help kids set goals. When personal bests are achieved it should be time for celebration. It is the little accomplishments that will ultimately get the student to that long range goal but we should be celebrating all along the way. The Lee Jenkins Conference that Leadership attended had some great ideas in this area!
This is the first thing that I work on with my students when it comes to assessments in the classroom. I always observe students in the beginning of the year racing through their assessments to be the first one's completed. They receive a lot of feedback from my observations and the discussion about quality and focusing on the details in their assessment to produce the best results which in turn will make them winners without coming in first. It is also important to allow students the ability to take their time on assessments and not put time constraints in which success could not be achieved to be winners. With proper environment expectations set-up for assessments, students quickly buy into the plan and see positive end results of achieving their goals for success.
I, too, try to nix the "I'm first" perpetual competition. I grew up in a family of ridiculously competitive athletes where if you were 2nd, you were the first loser. Personal pride and self satisfaction of a job well done, regardless of where you placed compared to others, is the true measure of success.
Reality check my friends....don't mean to sound glib but our society celebrates WINNERS...that means #1...second place loses. I couldn't agree more with all of the people who have responded but we have some work to do before we get kids to buy it. We recently experienced the Olympics...remember the frenzy and it was not about doing your best and being satisfied. As you know our society does not limit first place honors to just sporting events either.
So if we are to convince kids that trying and doing their best is really what is important then we need to have open discussions about the importance of doing well and the internal satisfaction that can come from it.
"Did you win?" is as American as apple pie...right or wrong. Some kids are much more competitive than others and they will need a lot of convincing that doing their best is as good as winning. I'm just saying...it will take a lot of deliberate effort. I think the result will be worth it.
I agree with Jo it will take a whole society to change, but never say never. The very competitive ones that have the goal of first place need to learn how to accept it when they don't make it in this one game, race etc.
I know that winning is an American obsession. However, I propose that we try to be a person/place where that is not the primary issue. I'm not too fond of "what did you like about it" when it is obvious that a student is disappointed. That feels wrong to me. It is simple enough to say "so, tell me about it" or even "how did it go?".
This section reminded me of field day. This day can be very difficult for the non-athletic students. Although we try to focus on the participating and having fun, as teachers we have witnessed the students missing out on the fun becuase they can not compete with the athletic students. What counts in the end are the "blue ribbons" and/or moving on to district.
Interesting.
One of my kids just returned from a sports competition. I asked "How did it go?" The first thing out of his mouth was "We didn't win."
I said that's okay" and he went on to talk about the other "successes" of the trip. It was almost as if he was waiting for my approval/permission to be okay with not coming in first in the competition.
test
This is a tough one, because kids are so competitive by nature. Even in the small speech sessions, the students want to compete. Who got the most right? Who has the most points? (when I tally responses)If we do a game activity, who is the winner? No matter how much I stress that we are doing the activity to practice our skills and I reinforce the good performance, there is that competition hanging in the air.
I have used this with my own kids and often they just roll their eyes. Even so, I think they do hear it and hopefully consider the benefits of the activity.
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