Spelling Bee Lessons
January 30th, 2008 israel
A few weeks ago, Emily had the honor of representing her fourth grade class in the district spelling bee. This was Emily’s third year having this honor and Dawn and I are especially proud of her.
The first year she went she placed 8th out 18-20 spellers. She and I spent an awful long time reviewing the spelling list. Our (my) strategy was to breeze through the easy words (most of which Emily could easily spell) and concentrate on the moderate to hard words. As Emily and I learned, the moderate and hard words are barely touched, as most of the spellers get eliminated on the easy words.
Last year, we concentrated on the easy words and maybe went through the moderate and hard words once or twice. Emily finished 4th out 18-20 spellers and missed special mention by one place. We sat through the last three spellers and Emily spelled all the words silently and perfectly. She now knew she could be the champ with a little more effort.
This year was a different story. This year I am coaching basketball and Emily is playing futsal (indoor soccer). We could count our study sessions on one hand. Emily remained confident and felt that she could definitely win. She studied at school with her friends and teacher. However, she/we didn’t spend anywhere near the time that we had spent in the past.
As one could expect the result was less than stellar. She/we went away disappointed.
In the end we have learned some valuable life lessons through the spelling bee. One, you have to pick the correct strategy to be successful. Two, experience is an excellent teacher. Three, you can’t rely on past performance to get you where you want to go. Four, you simply have to grind it out and work. And finally, learn from your mistakes and try not to repeat them.
These are lessons we can all learn and were a great reminder to me on a number of levels.
