I've never had such an intense spelling bee.
I have many competitive students and they were invested. We had an exhaustive conversation before it started about all the procedures and hypothetical outcomes. We were competing for the three top spots. They had questions.
What if there are only four people left and two people miss a word? What if everyone misses a word? What if no one misses a word?
One student wondered what we would do if we ran out of words and I didn't know what to say to that, so I said we would panic.
Then I said, "Actually, I will get more words, but we may need to finish later if that happens."
I offered them a piece of candy if they were brave enough to participate.
Someone suggested I give them the candy later, since they couldn't spell with their mouths full. They were really thinking of everything!
So we began.
One student quickly said, "That's OK, good try," when her friend got out.
One student sobbed big shaking sobs when he got out. During recess, when I was trying to calm him down, I asked if he had studied, he hadn't. He was so inconsolable after about 30 minutes, I took him to the office.
Three students were too afraid to try.
One student studied harder than anyone, came in second, and was gracious about it.
One student won and had zero amount of gloating, but smiled a happy/relieved smile.
There are lots of ways to be a person and lots of reactions to the class spelling bee. Personal disappointments and the success of others abound in this life of ours.
They taught me with their reactions:
- Prepare if it matters to you
- Ask questions
- Be brave
- Be gracious
- Be resilient
- Be kind
3 comments:
Nice. Lessons of a spelling bee.
Those are good lessons for a lot of things--not just spelling bees.
I adore you!
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