Element Week of March 17

I'm not sure which chapters we are blogging about at this point...i'm a little off track since I can't make it to meetings. On page 159 Robinson states "It's not what happens to us that determines our lives, it's what we make of what happens." I feel that throughout my life I have taken this simple fact for granted. It took me a lot of years to stop blaming events in my life for holding me back from certain things and start taking responsibility for myself. I feel that this simple message, if presented in the correct way, could have a lasting impact on some of our students. I always knew I had potential to go to college, but was never really given that extra push to use my full potential. It took me a lot of years to find teaching and an even longer time to feel comfortable doing it. At one point, I was going to settle for an associates degree in human relations, and without the push from a true friend, I may be sitting in an unfulfilling job somewhere.
I feel that my little sister, who is an 8th grader in Titusville, is starting to learn from mine and my sister's shortcomings. She is truly a person who has found her 'Element' and is very lucky to have parents who support it. She has really become interested in writing and movies. She has gotten a lot of positive feedback from teachers as well as fellow bloggers on websites. It may have been going on for awhile, but reading this book has opened my mind to the idea of an element, and I am seeing hers very clearly.....too bad my own true element is not so obvious! Although as quoted on page 216 "For most of us we're not even close to "too late"."