Post by Jason Hamann: Jason is in his 3rd year of teaching
special education at Bettendorf High School and currently serves as Team Leader. You can follow him on Twitter
@jlh842000
I recently attended the first show of the Garth Brooks World
Tour in Chicago with my wife; she is a huge Garth Brooks fan. Beside this being the first time we have
taken a weekend away since having our children (6,4,2), this the first times
that I have taken a personal day to do something for/with her.
My struggles with achieving balance between my work and
personal life is for another post.
Back to the concert…Garth Brooks’ wife, Trisha Yearwood sang
her new song called “Prizefighter”.
This song made me think of the students we, as teachers work
with every day.
Some of the lyrics
that caught my attention:
“Here you are face to face with your greatest test of faith”
In some of our students’ young lives, school is the biggest
challenge for them. They just are not
wired to go to school, sit in a desk, take notes and be quiet for an hour at a
time. How do you make your classroom
engaging for all students, especially the ones who don’t learning in the
typical manner?
“Turn the sound of defeat into your battle cry”
Sometimes students get a few bad grades, get a few
assignments behind, and just quit. Many
want to give up instead of battling through the tough times. How will you help these student use their
“defeat” as motivation?
“From your head down to your toes- you find your glory,
strength and hope.”
On top of school issues, students all over the country many
have many outside issues to deal with: verbal and physical abuse, sexual abuse,
substance abuse, mental health concerns, unsafe neighborhoods, gang violence,
hunger. Yet they still have the strength
to show up to school every day.
“Look at you-smiling with a shiner, standing higher,
prizefighter”
Many students are beating the odds, fighting through their
battles, showing up at school every day with a smile on their face and longing
for greatness.
How will you inspire the students you work with to be their
best?
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