As we are gearing up for the start of school here at Indi-ED, we are constantly envisioning what is best for our students. We are planning everything they need to experience in order to succeed. To be happy. To be GREAT.
At the core of who we are is the belief that every one of our students has the potential for greatness. Whatever that may look like for them.
Let us clarify- we already know our students are great people and have great families.
We simply value constant improvement and growth. For this reason, all of our students will be reading passages from Jack Canfield’s book, “The Success Principles: How to Get from Where You Are to Where You Want to Be” during our first unit.
During our reading, the students will reflect on what they read, compare the passages to other texts, and apply the Principles to their own lives. It is also why they will complete personal writing pieces to build their self-awareness (along with comprehension and writing skills).
Canfield states his personal definition of greatness as:
“…growing and using your potential while you are
doing whatever brings you joy and fills your life with purpose.”
We could not agree more.
Children should be doing things that bring them joy, while also being challenged and feeling like they have a purpose.
At Indi-ED, we want our students to be able to envision what greatness will look like in their lives. We want them to know that they can create the life they want. Whether they are in 3rd grade or 9th, they should know that they have the ability to determine how they will feel and what they will achieve.
They should think about:
- What kind of career you want to have
- Who you want to be with
- How you want to spend your time
- How you want to get more meaning and fulfillment out of life
Greatness is about creating a life that you love- a life that makes you excited to wake up every day and dive into your work. It is about feeling satisfied that you did great work and made a difference in the world. (Whatever that looks like for you.)
For some of our students, greatness may look like recording an album of original music. For others, it may mean becoming a professional athlete, artist, or entrepreneur.
“Greatness” should be interpreted by people in different ways. It does not always mean gaining wealth, power, and fame. It is not about acing every test you ever take and receiving straight A’s. It is not about having the nicest cars or biggest houses. And because Indi-ED consists of amazing families with inherently good values, we know that our kids already hold these beliefs.
We want our students to truly believe that they are capable of greatness.
And that no two types of “great” are identical.
We begin every year with a personal development book as a means to consistently improve who our students are. Which we thought would be a perfect photo opportunity for this blog. Until…you’ll have to guess what happened but here’s our one “pretty” and one (unintentionally) “silly” photo. Thanks for capturing Mr. Faza. Excited for the year for many reasons!
