By C’Morra Cuffie It feels good when you get recognized for doing the right thing, especially when there's a pandemic still going on. It's hard to stay motivated and do work while mostly everybody around you is sick and is carrying a virus. It's stressful especially when you don't know who has it, not wearing masks isn't very helpful either. But somehow there's people out there who are still so eager to accomplish a goal. And those people get recognized for it on the school announcement, it is called “student spotlight.” But how do they stay motivated during these hard times? You should start by producing a plan. Once you have your goal in place, a plan will take your vision and break down steps that you need. Without a plan the goal is just a dream. I asked East High Junior Jayla Allen, what keeps her motivated. Allen said, “I want to get into a good college and you have to start now, I don't want to be a failure and once I get my work done I have free time. When you get your priorities straight then you can do anything.” She goes on to say, “I stay motivated because school has to end sometime. When I'm stressed I go to support and get work done because I know the teachers are there to help me so I don't have so much work due.” Allen is saying that when you ask for help or just really need it without asking, here at East we have support classes to help us and it helps with the stress knowing that there's many teachers in the classroom that can help. Goal setting is also important. Allen says, “Every time I am tired of school, I always think about how I want to make it out of here. I don't want to be a drop out and when you're doing good people treat you well. I like to prove people wrong when they think poorly about me. So when they say I'm going to fail I just have to push myself and set goals every month and reach them, to make it out of school and the hood!” I also interviewed Ms. Chalone, the teacher who's in charge of the student spotlight. She says, “At a teacher's meeting, the suggestion to acknowledge correct choices and behaviors amongst the students would benefit the whole school. Positive reinforcement works.” And it’s true. You don’t have to be perfect to be nominated. “Teachers and staff can nominate any student for anything. The point is to choose something that went above and beyond, different from the normal behavior or action. We don't want to spotlight the normal, or expected behavior, but for some kids, what is normal might be the best they can do and we do want to acknowledge that,” Ms. Chalone states. Teacher spotlights are a separate form. That is supposed to be in your family group Google Classroom where you, a student, can nominate any teacher or staff - any adult - for something you appreciate about them or that they did that you think is above and beyond. Here at East the staff wants positivity not negativity, they want students to feel good about themselves for being hard workers and doing the best they can in this hard predicament and it's really nice to have this kind of support system because now we all as students want to try our best!
1 Comment
Lynn Girven
2/13/2022 01:06:26 pm
Perfect understanding of the situation - - well done!
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