Learning vs Sleep

I just finished Student-Parent-Teacher conferences.  As in, got home about an hour ago.  I had 19 conferences to do, and 18 of them were absolutely wonderful.  I count that as a successful conference season!

Interestingly, there was a theme this time around.  It had something to do with motivation.  And learning.  And desire to accomplish something.  And though 2/3 of the conferences were finished on Friday, the theme still held strong.

Third graders are just learning how to push through challenges to achieve no matter what.  Or at least most of them are.  Some come into the year wanting to work hard and learn, and will do so at any expense (staying in the realm of positive, of course.)  They work hard to tackle challenges, they celebrate victories, and they trudge on even when the road is tough.

However, there are a few, there are always a few, that want to find the shortest path with the least road blocks.  Which is where my story comes to play.

Last week was one of those insane education weeks with more 12 hour days than not.  I love sleep just as much as I love learning, and last week, sleep was running short.  However.  I still dragged myself out of bed at 6:30 on Saturday morning so I could get in the car and on the road to EdCamp Lake Orion with a 7:30 kick off time.

I would have really preferred to be in bed.  I really, really, REALLY needed sleep.  Especially considering Saturday was going to be another long day and late night.   But I went anyway.  I would have preferred to not have an alarm screaming at me before the sun rose.  I would have preferred to stay in my warm bed, snuggled up with my puppy.  Cause I love sleep.

But I love to learn, too.  So I went.  And I learned.  And I loved it.

And in sharing that story with my students tonight, I hope that gives them one more example of how and why we put things we love ahead of other things sometimes.  Even if we don't want to.  Even if we'd prefer to sleep in on a Saturday.  It's worth it to keep our fire burning.

This group of Thinkers is full of fire.  They are burning bright.  I hope that they continue to do so, despite the mornings where sleep sounds better, because they are going to change the world...... they already have begun......