Stuart's Spectacular Students

This is dedicated to my amazing students. The goal is for each and every one of them to feel unstoppable by the time they walk out of the classroom door for the final time in May. This chronicles their journey; their own Chronicles of Self-Actualization.

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Saturday, March 14, 2009

What Matters To Us All

People succeed and do great things either out of ego or passion. If it's ego it's a need to prove to someone that we are a success, worthy of being loved, deserving of being treated with respect, admiration, etc. This limited human-mind thinking usually manifests itself in the pursuit of more money and the things it buys, dominance over others, or getting as many people as possible praising our name.

Living out of our ego is a fear of not being good and powerful enough as we are and results in a continual running away from this fear in a never-ending need to constantly prove ourselves to others, usually by saying we are better than those around us in at least one significant way.

Living out of our spirit, or passion, is a constant and courageous move towards our higher self and happiness with unwavering belief. Where you used to fail you now succeed. You uplift those around you v. dominate them and where they used to fail they now succeed. And instead of trying to get others to praise your name, your spirit calls loudly for them to see the greatness inside of themselves.

It is out of this spirit that I have directed my teaching, one which requires rigorous thought, courageous belief, and great growth from both teacher and student. And it is out of this spirit that I will continue teaching even when it brings criticism from parents who tell me their children aren't "smart enough" to learn this way, that their child isn't "gifted".

Recognizing that I would be doing the same thing if I were them, because I would be them, it is just their fear of dreaming too much in their children and an ego-driven need to "be right" about their child's limitations. Instead of seeing what I see in their child and helping me bring it into reality, they direct all of their energy into trying to get me to lower my standards and beat me down by criticizing, condemning and attacking me, trying to get as many people as they can to see me as a "bad" teacher too.

It's at these times I know I need to respond out of my spirit and not my ego.



Every time I let my spirit do the talking for me, it speaks loud and clear every time. With respect for their right to have their own opinions..........and great clarity to the greater importance of their child's own opinion of him or herself, I say to them:

What the parent thinks of me does not matter at all.

What the Principal thinks of me does not matter at all.

What the public thinks of me does not matter at all.

What the President thinks of me does not matter at all.

Not even what the student thinks of me matters at all.



What the student thinks of him or herself...........Matters to us all.


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We all talk of wanting a better world, yet most do nothing about the creation of it. We continue to have the same limiting beliefs about ourselves and our children expecting and waiting for the world to change, and then turn to blaming others when things don't...........when all we have to do is begin the change we want to see in the world by beginning to see the change within ourselves.

Each year more of us are born, for the most part entering school happy, free, and spirited, and knowing how to naturally learn. We leave school for the most part stressed-out from achieving "success", apathetic from "learning" year-after-year that we are "average" or "failures", and nearly all of us imprisoned and dispirited by the self-imposed limitations we have by now naturally learned to place on ourselves by the limited-thinking adults and people around us.

And we continue to add to the creation of a limited world where "That's just the way things are" and "It is what it is".

We need to change what we are teaching our children. We need not only to tell them, but to show them what's possible.

We need parents and teachers who are great angels and warriors of reality, that the power to change any bad situation lies within ourselves.

That the power to create what we want lies within ourselves when we focus on what we want.

And that it is our spirit that guides us in this creation and our passion that sets us free to follow it.

We need more students like these feeling this spirited and passionate about themselves after the first two and three days of state testing, most of which are from children I was told were "just average" or "below-level students" at the beginning of the year.

These children were quickly told, "There is nothing average about you. There has never been someone exactly like you and there never will be again. YOU ARE THAT SPECIAL! And you ALL have some talent or gift that ONLY YOU can bring to this world.......and I CANNOT, and WILL NOT allow you to have average thoughts about yourself when it means the world will miss out on the gifts you are here to bring to it."

And this is how they responded:

"It was the first time I actually liked the FCAT, and made so much sense of it. It was so fun to not be nervous and not worrying about having to memorize anything. All I had to do was make sense of everything and anything on there. I even laughed at some of the questions because they were so easy.

Wow, I now know what can happen if you don't memorize, but actually make sense of it and make a real, life thing you do every day. I really think anyone can do what they want it they Dream Big, DO BIG, AND BE BIG!!

(And all around this paper was written:)

"It was fun. Do great things. Take challenges. You can live your dream. Live life. Long growth. Take failure as a path to succeeding. Have confidence."

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Wow, that test was so easy!! Some questions that were on there were so easy because all you had to do was make sense of it. Set yourself to a higher standard. Raise the bar. If you want to be big, you can't just dream it, you have to do it. You have to do things in order to get where you want to be. Don't wait, DO!

Don't procrastinate. Live Your Dream. Do what you can when you can. Have fun. Don't let go of U. Don't let yourself down. You can turn your life around.

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My feelings on the FCAT were great! I had full and powerful feelings that I was going to get a 7 on the FCAT. I hold myself to higher standards. I will not get a 4.999. I will get a 5 or 7!

(The highest possible score is a 5. This student didn't seem to care about that :-)

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I want it to be harder because the average teacher does not teach the way to get you to succeed in life and they didn't dream big, do big, be big so they're going to teach you what they were taught.

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The first part of the FCAT was so easy I didn't need to work on it. Still most questions were so easy I did it in my head but still I evaluated. For some reason the first part I felt like ripsticking through because it was so easy. But the second part was hard. Even though I stopped and I think No, No, No....I KNOW I GOT A 5

DO GOOOOOD. Dream Big. Do Big.

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The FCAT was so easy! I knew all the answers. I worked every night and I think I'll get a high score. This was the only FCAT that was easy for me. It was easy because I DREAM BIG.....DO BIG...AND I'LL BE BIG!

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The truth is that two days before the FCAT I wasn't worried at all. I knew it was going to be easy. I felt that it wasn't that serious. This is because of the way Mr. Stuart taught me. He always tells me to explain why, which helps me a lot instead of trying to guess. He teaches me in a higher level and letting me understand instead of remembering. I thank everything to Mr. Stuart. Now I will use all of the things he taught me and apply it to my life.

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It was somewhat easy and the questions weren't challenging. Make it hard please!!!!

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I feel the FCAT was too easy! I was able to make sense of it easily because of what I did in class, not doing the traditional way of teaching!!!!

DREAM.....DO....BE BIG

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I thought the FCAT would be kind of hard but I was wrong it was so easy. When I looked at some questions they were so easy that I only had to do it in 2 seconds. But some questions I had to look at carefully and think a lot but that did not stop me.

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I believed in myself. I felt confident. It was fun. I made sense of it. I believe if you dream big, do big and be big you can do anything.

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The first time the book touched my desk I thought I was going to die, but that changed. The first question I saw I started laughing in my mind over nothing. I know I am weird. Well, it was easy!

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I thought that FCAT was easy and I could really make sense of all the questions they gave me.

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The 2 days of FCAT wasn't so bad. I felt butterflies moving in my stomach, but after the first couple of questions it went away. All was easy except maybe 1 or 2 questions.

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Again! Easy! Reading was just as easy as the math was. And that just proves that the way Mr. Stuart teaches can teach you to make sense of everything you do and not just guess but prove your answer is correct.

DREAM BIG....DO BIG.....BE BIG :-)-

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Some students added other comments:

Why would you live your life when a couple of people are watching? Why not the whole world? Don't just live an OK life, live a fantastic life, live your dream. Have fun with your life. Do what you want. Make good choices. Think positive. Don't put others down. Accomplish great things. To do that we must not only act but also dream. Not only plan, but also believe. Dreams without actions stay dreams. Now you tell me do you want to be a tiny little pussy cat OR DO YOU WANT TO BE A TIGER???"

It takes courage to grow up and become who you really are. Be your best. Dream as if you'll live forever. Live as if you'll die today. Be somebody's hero.

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Believe you can. You can't be positive if you are negative. be honest. Bring it! What is the one thing? The bigger the challenge, the bigger you. Don't live inside a shell. Instead break out of it. Learn from everyone around you. Learn from your mistakes.

Just because people don't believe in themselves it doesn't mean you can't. Well all I know is that if everyone believes, anything can happen!!

YOU CAN DO ANYTHING YOU WANT IF YOU BELIEVE!

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SPIRIT

Man gets tired, Spirit don't
Man surrenders, Spirit won't
Man crawls, Spirit flies
Spirit lives when Man dies

Man seems, Spirit is
Man dreams, Spirit lives
Man is tethered, Spirit is FREE

What Spirit is MAN CAN BE

Do the impossible. Make it happen.


 
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