The Essential 55, Chapter 11-21

On the chapters 11-21, I learned about how Mr. Clark got the idea of suprising others with gifts or acts of kindness every now in then. Reading through rule 11 made me tear a little! I love the stories of him and all the things he did to publish on the newspaper! I think what Mr. Clark did was expand the students' knowledge about the world they live in. They got to learn about other people's opinion, from people all over the world! As he says, "The whole process was essential for these kids who had very little experience of life beyond their community."(31-32) I want to become a similar teacher as Mr. Clark, the way he crossed boundaries to help his students succeed is extremely great. Like him doing a car wash to raise more money although he HATES car washes. He did it all for them, it's just incredible. As I read, this was an amazing experience for the students, "It was so much fun to learn about the various individuals and to hear all of their responses to our question."(35) This shows what it meant to the kids. Rule 13 is one that interested me. Mr. Clark understands how important it is for students to follow along while reading, but he also understands that students sometimes get distracted easily and stop following along and paying attention. He said, "Sometimes out of boredom I would stare at the page we were on and daydream about anything from winning the lottery to being asked by NASA to be the first high school student to fly to the moon."(46) But he also states, "I had to force myself to be an active participant."(46-47) All he tries to do with his students is teach them how to listen. Just listening and following along will make time pass by quick and stop you from getting bored. The one rule that is actually really tough, and I mean REALLY TOUGH for me to follow is rule 19, which is about turning in homework when it's assigned with no complaining, or moaning whatsoever. I think that as a kid it's easy to finish homework, but once I started high school it became difficult. Although I believe I'm a responsible student and turn in my assignments on time, I struggle to get my stuff done! I try to not complain about things sometimes, but I still slip out my complains. But as Mr. Clark says in his book, "Sometimes there are things we just have to do that we may not want to do at the very moment, but it is our obligation and so we should do it anyway without moaning or making comments about how we don't want to."(67) I believe that everything we do makes us smarter, and better at being us. Instead of constantly complaining, think of all the good and positive things it will bring to you. Here is a really interesting video that students did acting out Mr. Clark's rules, it's nice and humorous! video