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Wednesday, May 29, 2013

The Power of a Difficult Victory(R)


This child goes to a school where it is known, that the highest mark for composition tends to be between 31 to 34. So when Mommy P commented that 30+ wasn't great (since the marking could have been very lenient), I requested that she ask the Teacher for the highest mark in class for English composition.

It turned out that her child had scored the highest mark in class for English composition.

This child worked hard. On a weekly basis, she put in between 2.5 to 4 hours into doing her composition to build the writing REFLEXES that I had taught her. Yes... you read correctly... we are building REFLEXES. When it comes to teaching skills, you can't run away from training reflexes. There is a very thin line between what is skill... and what is reflex.

It wasn't easy. At times, Mommy and I had to confer and discuss how we could encourage her to keep at it. It was not easy to please Dr Pet when it came to writing compositions. At one point, I shortened her skills grid by 3 skills so that she wouldn't feel so demoralized by her weekly marks. Now that she has hit the jackpot, the child is herself clamouring (so says the Mommy) - "Give them to me! Quick! Give all the skills to me! I am READY!"

When we give our children difficult goals to achieve... and encourage them to keep at it till they do... the final success releases as much motivational energy as a nuclear blast. Difficult Victories (R), detailed in Chapter 8 of Dr Pet's book, is a VERY VERY powerful strategy.

This child is revved up and ready to go. She knows she can do better and she wants to try. As long as the child is willing to try, then the child will improve from whatever the level he/she is at. All I ask is that they try their best.

The results will naturally come. Focus on effort and the results will come. We focused this child on EFFORT. We didn't tell her we wanted her to top the class. We set no expectations for grades. We worked at motivating her to pour in maximum effort.

And then one day, she wakes up, and finds herself at the top of the class.

The strangest thing though... is that this child also has a name that starts with C... like these 2 HERE. Maybe children with names starting with C are a good fit for Dr Pet's strange teaching methods?

Postscript: 
Mommy P just got in touch. Her child was top in class not just for composition, but overall too, for English. 

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