Aujourd’hui c’était ensoleillé!! On est allé faire du mayak, de l’hébertisme dans la boue, un rallye GPS, de la rabaska et on s’est baigné dans la chute d’eau. C’était très amusant! Les animateurs sont très drôles et fous mais gentils. Il y en a un qui est un accordéoniste, un autre avec des cheveux drôles et un qui s’appelle Windex! Tout le monde a du bon temps. Au revoir et à demain à LCC. Ella Waxman ’19, français enrichi 5A
Hier matin, nous sommes arrivés à Jouvence pour la classe rouge. On était tous très excités! L’endroit où on dort s’appelle D’jouv, c’est grand et coloré. Dans chaque chambre, il y a quatre ou six personnes. Nous étions contents de savoir qui était dans notre chambre. J’ai fait un rallye GPS pendant l’après-midi. Il faut que tu trouves des objets dans la forêt. Le soir, nous avons fait un gros feu, chanté des chansons et écouté des histoires. J’ai hâte de faire d’autres activités amusantes aujourd’hui! — Charlotte Heward ’19
It is interesting that grade 7s focus so much on positive mindset at start of the year. It’s the belief that a “Can Do” mentality can take you far. According to one acclaimed researcher at Stanford University in California, it is actually your mindset more than anything that will define you well into the future. In fact, there seems to be a lot of discussion right now about this topic. Researchers, writers, and journalists flood our media about back-to-school survival every September. This year I have noted a common theme in education literature: the positive benefits of not just intelligence but what some researchers call “grit.”
So what is “grit?” With a healthy dose of challenge—and even failure—come opportunities. Every time we “screw-up,” do we walk away to an easier option or do we bounce back and learn from the difficult experience? That is “grit;” what some call “stick-with-itness,” or more familiar words: “resilience,” or “persistence,” or perseverance.
With the start of the new school year, I have thought about this a lot. We have had a good couple of weeks, but what happens when the sheen of the new wears thin and the homework mounts? How about when you fall or ultimately actually fail at something significant? Do you seek excuses? “The teacher didn’t like me.” ”He’s so boring in class.” ”She doesn’t know how to motivate kids in math.” The possibilities for an “easy out” are endless.
It’s important to reflect on how good you are at managing adversity and failure. Do you bounce back because you are told you must, or because you want to?
I am reminded of the words of Dr. Wayne Halliwell—a sports psychologist and former LCC parent—who reminds us that every time we point at an excuse there are actually three fingers pointing back at us (Try it)!
Dr. Halliwell was personal coach to Canadian Olympic skiers Jen Heil, and Alexandre Thibodeau, and skater Joannie Rochette—all medalists at the Vancouver Olympics. He told me a story when he returned from the Vancouver games in 2010. He was with Joannie’s dad, Mr. Rochette, when they woke Joannie at about 6 am in the Olympic village early in the games to tell her that her mother had died from a sudden heart attack. After the initial shock, they eventually asked Joannie if she still wanted to skate, and she decided to do so in honour of her mom. As you know she had to summon all the resilience she possessed and eventually won a bronze medal, but under the circumstances it was like 10 gold medals with the whole country supporting her. Joannie showed true “grit.” I think we can all learn a lot from her.
We are only a couple of weeks into school. To reach your personal goals this year, all of you will have to work hard, and along the way you will experience success, hardship and disappointment. See all those moments and those sentiments as essential ingredients in your personal development.
Every time a teacher, coach or advisor tells you something isn’t “good enough” or that you “can do better,” realize how powerful that message is. Don’t deny it, or bark back, or point to others for excuses. Accept the critique as something truly constructive in your learning and development.
Along with celebrating your successes, developing grit, resilience and character should be priorities to better handle life as a young adult in a complicated world. —Chris Shannon, Headmaster
Bonjour, je m’appelle Dylan Theriault-Harris et cette année, je suis responsable de la communication au Middle School Pride. Le Middle School Pride est un comité qui se réunit chaque mercredi à 7h30. Nous discutons et planifions des activités pour les 7e et 8e.
Premièrement, je veux créer une meilleure communication entre les étudiants et les représentants du Middle School Pride. J’atteindrai mon but en créant des enquêtes, des annonces et un forum public.
Secondly, I would like to organize lunchtime activities such as dodgeball, basketball and soccer. These activities could take place either in the Junior Gym, the Velan Gym or outside. In conclusion, I want to help make your year memorable. If you have any questions or comments, please don’t be shy to contact me by email ([email protected]) or approach me in the halls. — Dylan Theriault-Harris ’16
Today in the entitlement class we started talking about what entitlement meant and to what we were entitled. Many people were talking about how they were entitled to breathe, how they were entitled to have an education, after many many comments, and having discussed the situation one person had mentioned Lower Canada College and said that they were entitled to go to LCC. At first I had to think about that. I agreed with them in a way because if you do well and you are determined you can succeed. But in another way I disagreed because going to Lower Canada College is not an entitlement it is a privilege. Going to Lower Canada College is a privilege because not a lot of students are able to go to the school. Lower Canada College is one the finest schools in North America. I feel privileged to be an LCC student. Dwight D. Eisenhower once said: “A people that values its privileges above its principles soon looses both.”
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Today I had a new and exciting lesson about the brain. I learned many interesting and important facts. I discovered that a person with a fixed mindset is always negative about situations that aren’t in their favour like not making a sports team. They are not willing to try again to reach their goals, but simply complain and name reasons why they aonnot make another effort. Someone like this would find all the external factors or reasons to blame these unfortunate events. External factors and reasons are are out of ones control. As opposed to someone with a negative attitude, a person with a growth mindset is usually positive even when unfortunate situations occur. Someone like this would keep practicing and trying their hardest to reach their maximum potential in these events such as not making a sports team, doing bad on a test, etc. They would immediately tell someone with a negative attitude to keep on trying their hardest if they haven’t yet reached their full ability if such events occurred. I hope you understand my goal of writing this blog: always keep a positive attitude and try your hardest at everything. No matter what, NEVER GIVE UP!
“My dad encouraged us to fail. Growing up, he would ask us what we failed at that week. If we didn’t have something, he would be disappointed. It changed my mindset at an early age that failure is not the outcome, failure is not trying. Don’t be afraid to fail.” –– Sara Blakely
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Today I learned about plagarism. I was surprised to find out how serious this really is. Just to give you an idea of what I am talking about, I will tell you some of the punishments for plagiarism. The punishments include: detention, suspension and in the worst of cases… expulsion. So today I learned three key facts about plagiarism. One: You can plagiarize without even being aware that you are committing an offense. Two: If you quote someone you must cite where and when you got this quote, song, picture… And three: If you do not cite your borrowed piece of information, it can result in major consequences (some listed above). To cite something, you must clearly indicate the author, the date the quote was said/ written, where it was published. That considered, think twice before you plagiarize and if you reference someone, be sure to cite the quote properly with quotation marks and give the original author proper recognition like so:”Originality is undetected plagiarism” William Ralph Inge (Circa 1900)
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Today we learned that people with fixed mindsets tend to blame external factors for their successes and failures, while people with growth mindsets tend to attribute their successes and failures to internal factors. This will help me with my schoolwork because if I receive a bad grade on a test, I will try to keep my spirits up and do better on the next one. I won’t try to blame anyone for the bad grade except for my study habits and the amount of hours I put into my schoolwork. We also learned today that people with fixed mindsets are more reluctant to try new things than people with growth mindsets. People with growth mindsets are eager to try new things, regardless of the reflection it might have on their reputation. High school is a place where you try new things, a place where you must rise to your challenges in order to succeed. With that said, having a growth mindset is necessary in high school if you want to excel. “No one knows what he can do until he tries.” – Publilius Syrus
— Samuel Freder ’17
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Over the course of this week, I discovered that having a growth mindset is unquestionably finer. However, after doing three lessons today called the blame game, plagiarism and entitlement, I have learned something quite remarkable. The blame game taught me that, with a growth mindset, I should always push myself to acknowledge my mistakes and instantly try adjusting them with a new studying strategy in order to improve the next time. Whether it’s for schoolwork or a new obstacle I must face, I just thrive with opportunity to learn something new. Plagiarism taught me that some of the most outstanding reports could be done without consulting any Internet sources. It’s constantly better to use my imagination and create something in my own words so that people may someday be inspired to use my words for their assignments. Lastly, entitlement taught me that, in life, I have the right to push myself to my absolute limit and realize my full potential. By setting goals, I can understand what I think I deserve in life. My desire to succeed will hopefully make me want to work harder and achieve all my passions. Can’t wait for tomorrow! —Abigail Shine ’17
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