We All Just Need a Little Love

Sometimes a person just needs a little encouragement. This idea can be used in many different circumstances, and mine was put into play in regard to fitness. Summer school is wrapping up, so my break is just beginning. To welcome some days off and to rejuvenate my mind and body, I started attending Fit Body Boot Camp, enrolling in a 6-week Slimdown Challenge. 

The class is a 30-minute, fat-blasting workout that mixes cardio and strength training with a meal plan and encouragement. It is this place of encouragement where I want to focus. At my boot camp class, I set goals and monitor those goals every day either by tracking my food or my weight or my calories. I know where I am, and I know where I want to go. 

I enjoy boot camp because I signed up with my friend, so we get to spend time together chatting and supporting each other. I like my teacher. She is funny and upbeat and welcoming. However, the class is not without its own sets of adversity. At times, I cannot perform the skills I am being asked. At times, I get frustrated because I am tired, or I am hungry, or I can’t physically pull it off. 

At those moments, this doesn’t happen: I don’t yelled at; I don’t feel like anyone is mad at me; I don’t get removed from the group and asked to work alone in a different setting because I can’t keep up; I don’t get teased; I don’t get called out. 

That’s why I continue. I have the support of friends; I have the support of an instructor; I have encouragement.

In an opinion article published on Leadership 360 on Nov. 17, 2013, at edweek.org, Jill Berkowicz and Ann Myers discuss the ideas of resilience and encouragement: “We cannot develop resilience without encountering some adversity” (para. 2). Is my adversity caused by factors within my control? Absolutely. I make the decisions to work out or not. I make the decisions about what to eat or not. I make the decisions about how I spend my time or my sleeping patterns.

So, what does this have to do with learning? 

We all have students in our classes who need encouragement. We all have students who come into the room with excuses and baggage brought on by themselves. Perhaps the baggage was placed on them by someone else, so they may be carrying twice the load. 

Every school has systems in place for kids to get hooked, including clubs, sports teams, and elective courses such as music and the arts. Students need to develop skills of resiliency and overcoming adversity and schools are one institution that can help. I keep going back to boot camp because I like camaraderie, the atmosphere, and the people. Students will keep returning to the classroom if they feel the same way. They just need a little encouragement.