Stubborn as a mule…

Do you deal with stubborness on a daily basis? Do you know someone who is just SO stubborn? Eek! It drives me crazy! I am stubborn and I am sure I must drive someone crazy, because I deal with it daily. Maybe that is why I can spot it from a mile away.

Some of my students are stubborn. They just won’t do what I ask of them. I wonder why? Do they just don’t want to copy their homework? How can I convince them that they NEED to copy it? How can I convince my daughter that she SHOULD spend time with me? How do I get my wonderful husband to close what he opens? Maybe it’s just my curse, my burden, maybe because I am stubborn! I can’t think of a certain instance where I can compare myself to these situations, funny, huh? I bet my husband is thinking right now as he reads this… WHAT? I can think of a million things! She leaves her shoes all over! I just don’t want to pick up my shoes, I like them there in front of my chair, that’s where I’ll find them tomorrow for work!

There must be an answer and that is what I find myself doing tonight, looking for an answer to the question, how do I get my students motivated to do the right thing without me telling them over and over again. I find myself searching the web for cool, interesting, engaging STEM activities that I know they will want to do! But, I stop in my tracks, what if it doesn’t excite them like it excites me? That’s a chance I will just have to take. Maybe my excitement will be contagious, one of my favorite principals I’ve ever had, always used to tell me that I was contagious, my laughter, my smile, my motivation. I took it as a compliment, sounds like it was right? I am going to turn my irritating stubborness into a motivational inspirational drive to convince those scholars tomorrow that being stubborn is a good thing because it gets those things done! At least I am aware of stubborness, I can either fight it or let it be and use it to my advantage… I gotta go pick up my shoes.