Staying Optimistic

I listened this morning to the BYU devotional speech given by Jeff Wilks on 9-25-12.  He made some great points about how to stay optimistic that we can apply to Esperanza.  I have tweaked his points to fit Esperanza:

1. Quality and excellence do not mean perfection.
2. No matter what struggles, challenges, or adversity we may face, keep trying anyway.
3. Stay focused on the goal.
4. Only seek the approval of those who matter.
5. Find and remember the joys

Wilks also gave an idea about journal keeping that he learned from Henry B. Eyring that can be applied to Esperanza:  Keep a journal to record each day the answer to the question:  "What happened today that proves that Esperanza is a worthwhile cause to pursue?" 

Nothing Left to Take Away

Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away." --Antoine de Saint-Exupery, French writer Felt this was an important quote to remember when we are teaching our Esperanza scholars about quality.

Example! Example! Example!

I bought an expensive chess set at All-A-Dollar as a Christmas gift for my husband and me.  Felt I needed to learn to play chess if we are going to have all our Esperanza scholars learn.  Guess I'll soon need to buy a violin and learn to play the violin since our Esperanza scholars will be learning this as well.

This experience is a reminder that example is the best teacher.  If we want our scholars to be readers we need to be readers.  If we want them to love math and science we need to cultivate a love for these subjects.  If we want them to be good and moral people we need to set the example.  If we want them to strive for quality and excellence we need to be willing to do the same.

A Quality Charter School Application

"It is my pleasure to inform you that your application will continue in the evaluation process." We received this message yesterday from Marlies Burns, the Director of Charter Schools at the Utah State Office of Education. Our application was returned along with this message. It had comments from "readers" on how we could improve our application.

Needless to say, we are excited that our application has made it thus far. Yet, in spite of our "sweat and tears" efforts to make it a quality application, it can still be better. The word quality itself implies that it can always be improved upon. This is what we have learned from Dr. Glasser's quality school theory which will be a foundation for Esperanza. If we want to teach our students about what it means to do quality work it appears that we are having an opportunity to set the example.