30 Day Challenge

I love teaching Social Studies. For most grades, it is mostly up to the teacher to choose what to teach. Flexibility.

This year, I'm taking a few minutes of class time and getting my kids excited about trying a 30 Day Challenge. They choose something they want to add, or try, or avoid every day for 30 days. Draw for half an hour a day. Take a serious photo every day. Run every day. Almost anything is OK.

I've had a fabulous response. The range of things they are challenging themselves to do is very impressive. Nobody seems to be taking the easy road.

I have also started TWO 30 Day Challenges. One is easy, and helps them remember the Challenge is on. I am not shaving for a month. It is sort of a visual nag, both to them and also to my memory.

The other challenge is to spend at least 15 minutes a night memorizing the techniques on my upcoming Jiu-Jitsu exam. This kind of thing is very difficult for me, and I'll normally avoid working on it at any cost. Now I can't.

So far, I've spent at least half an hour a day on the Challenge. This is twice my goal. It has only been 3 days so far, but the memorization is going pretty darn well.

I like my Challenge in another way. When I explain it to my kids I get to stress how hard memorization is for me. I get to tell them truthfully how easy I found physics, and how tortuously hard biology was for me. My brain doesn't work well on remembering lists of things.

It is important to show school kids your academic weaknesses. Many have problems, and seeing how well a teacher can do in one area while admitting to weaknesses in another is perfect role-modelling.

In any case, my kids are working on their 30 Day Challenges. Some are doing things that are really hard. Few have picked school type things to do. Many are working in fields they never get marks for. Some are trying things that are totally out of left field. I have yet to see a student's plan that is not busting with merit. As they do their month-long activities, they keep some form of journal (written or video), and hand it in for credit.

Everybody wins. And if we're just lucky, it might stick in one or two.

What if some those kids who dare themselves to draw, or paint, or video, or work out, or run, or write music keep on doing it in some form for ever?

I love the freedom to do stuff like this.