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The Courage to Try
Once upon a time, an elementary school teacher of Language Arts tried to give students practical writing assignments. Even when encouraging creativity, this teacher tried to find something motivating in a practical way for the students. A contest for North America caught her attention. Students would have to write a book, non-fiction or fiction, and the top prize was the publication of that book, plus a money prize and ongoing royalties. The teacher presented this to her fifth-grade class as a writing project and they examined how books are submitted, accepted, and published. Now they were no longer outsiders to the whole idea and process of publishing a book.
This teacher explained that even though thousands of students from North America would enter the contest, there was always the possibility someone from their class could win. In fact, she assured the class that out of those thousands if anyone from the class even made it to the Honorable Mention category, they would have a class party. Since class parties were rare but had been lively fun, the class had extra motivation.
The students had a month to work on this writing project. When they brought their stories to the class, they took turns reading one another’s stories and talked about how the stories made them feel and what the stories made them think about. Then they looked for items to edit. The teacher felt surprised and pleased by how seriously the class took the assignment.
When students asked about illustrating their stories, she explained that this book company had its own illustrators, but that anyone winning the contest would be able to look at different styles of illustrations and choose one. That information was satisfactory to the ten- and eleven-year-old fifth graders; they worked on making a neat professionally formatted final copy of their stories. The teacher mailed the contest entries and told her faculty friends about the students’ enthusiastic careful work on the project. More teachers decided they would be on the lookout for such contests to encourage writing in their students.
Months later in the school year, the teacher received a phone call during her work day from someone who claimed to be the representative of the publisher behind the contest. They wanted to ask questions about one of the book submissions and the young writer because this student could be the top winner of the contest. It crossed the teacher’s mind that this might be a joke or a scam so she said she had to leave but would call back soon.
When she called the publisher's number and asked for the representative she was immediately connected to the person. As the teacher talked with the representative, she realized that one of her young students might actually win this book contest. Because she knew this student and his family well, she was able to answer the publisher’s questions. Then came more waiting without sharing this news of a possible win with anyone.
Finally, the student and his family were notified by the publisher and with joyful amazement, he announced it to the class. Out of thousands of student entries, this young man’s story had won. The title was A Story About Courage. In their school system, grades 4 and 5 were in a building that once was the high school in the early 1900s. Nothing in the school was suitable for someone in a wheelchair. If a person had a life requiring a wheelchair, they would not only feel like an outsider, they would stand out as not belonging in this old school building.
The ten-year-old writer of A Story About Courage, Joel, had noticed the actions and attitudes of the one student in their school who had to use a wheelchair. Often the physical education teacher had to carry this youngster to the cafeteria or out onto the playground for recess while someone else carried the wheelchair. How would it feel to be the only person in a school in a wheelchair? The young writer, Joel, saw this instance as a time needing courage. He believed the boy in the wheelchair showed courage every day and noted that over time students accepted their classmate’s mobility difference. Students and staff became matter-of-fact about giving the aid necessary to the student in the old school building. Joel had watched the wheelchair-bound student confront restrictions and maneuvering challenges and graciously accept help.
Joel’s story combined his observations of this student, the imagined emotions and need for courage the restriction to a wheelchair would require, and the help of a physical education teacher, coaches, other teachers, and students into A Story About Courage. It takes courage to have one’s limitations seen by everyone and to continue through each day with a positive attitude. Joel made that clear in his book, and even though that classmate in the wheelchair had moved away before he had started his book writing project, Joel remembered that young student and his efforts to belong in an old building with no accessibility features.
There was a class party to celebrate the publication of A Story of Courage and a town celebration. All of Joel’s teachers from K-5th grade attended as Joel received his awards, prizes, and even a proclamation from the mayor of the town and governor of New Jersey. While these events were honors, Joel was more thrilled to see the book in print, to have been allowed to choose the style of illustrations, and to know his ideas about the courage it takes to be different resonated as a worthwhile award-winning story.
Fourteen years later, Joel had another surprise. He had finished college, done some work as an intern for a major organization, and now had an interview for what could be a rewarding job and career path. As anyone, he wondered how the interview would go and how thorough the employers would have checked into his background and qualifications. The answer to that seemed obvious when Joel sat down across from a committee of interviewers who had A Story of Courage on the table in front of them. Joel’s observation skills and caring ethics apparent in the book had only advanced in strength and depth. He got the job.
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