I gave my students an essay assignment in which they were to write five paragraphs about their definition of real life and relate it to Plato's "Allegory of the Cave" and The Truman Show. I was pretty worried about how this would turn out. I don't exactly have the most motivated students in my classes, so I was trepidatious whilst assigning the essay. As could be expected, I had a little less than half of the kids turn the essay in on time, but the answers that I received from those few "go-getters" that I have was pretty overwhelming. These kids unleashed their hearts and souls and philosophical understandings. I got rhetorical question after rhetorical question, proving that they were thinking, and thinking hard. I got an email from a student at 1:20 in the morning. I got varied ideas and out-there thoughts. I got to see their writing styles and revel in their uniqueness. These kids have experiences and parlayed those experiences into treatises proclaiming the lies and truthiness of life. It was all at once refreshing and cynical. It was deep and philosophical, even when they were surface diving (and vice versa, if that makes any sense).
Whenever I'm struggling to make it through the next 15 weeks, I need to take a second and think about the words of these students. They are thinking. They will achieve. And I will be a part of that achievement. I will be part of the roadmap that turns them into something extraordinary.
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