Hi and thanks for stopping by! I am so glad spring has sprung. Even if that’s not a real saying, I’m even more glad that we’re in the home stretch until the end of the school year. Woohoo! I have to admit, I’ll be a little sad to leave some of my teachers this year. Normally I’d only miss English and P.E. (aka gym class) teachers because those are my favorite classes. But after a recent experience, I will also add my amazing Science teacher, Ms. M, to my list.
In an earlier blog, I wrote about how I kind of liked last year’s science teacher, but that it wasn’t my favorite class (English still tops the list.) But this year, I have Ms. M for Science, and she is one of the best teachers I’ve ever had. Because I liked Ms. M so much, I worked extra hard in her class. Which brings me to a life lesson that I learned: while grades are important, pushing yourself to take on challenges can be even more satisfying than whatever letter or number grade you ultimately receive. Sometimes, the real reward comes from testing yourself. And as I’ve learned, you’ll probably end up with high marks when you truly do your best work.
Here’s my story…
A breath of fresh air
Ms. M is a really cool person, on top of being a teacher. For starters, she has neat hobbies like scuba diving, photography, and sailing. She also really loves science. She gets so excited when she talks about topics that kids normally might find boring. But because Ms. M is so enthusiastic when she explains things, you can’t help but catch some of her excitement. I sure did. That’s why I got so into science this year.
Last month, we studied the power of wind. Wind isn’t exactly the most exciting topic, I’ll admit. I mean, it’s air—and you can’t even see it. Well, the way Ms. M explained wind to us, the whole class got swept up in the topic. (Yup, I said that on purpose.)
Anyway, to end the wind unit, Ms. M assigned us a project: build a windmill using a battery. Sounded easy enough, right? Well, not the way I designed my windmill.
I came up with a super complicated design for my windmill; way more difficult than anyone else’s in the class. But guess what? Ms. M told me to give my design a try.
“You might just come up with something sciencetastic,” Mr. M said. Who wouldn’t want that?
Easy breezy
The basic windmill design that most kids planned wasn’t anything special. I didn’t want to just do the minimum for Ms. M’s project. I wanted to build something that would be, to use Ms. M’s words, sciencetastic. So, I decided I’d build my windmill on a wooden platform. Plus, I’d make the rotor (the spinning part) turn extra fast. For that, I’d need wood and gears—materials that I’d have to track down from other teachers—to complete the project the way I designed it.
The art teacher and the technology teacher both said they’d look for my parts, but it might take a day or two. No one ever said doing something sciencetastic would be easy.
Fortunately, the teachers came through and I got my special parts. But it took three days. I was behind on building my project—which was already kind of tricky. But Ms. M told me I shouldn’t worry. “Keep at it,” she said. “I know you can do this.”
After I finished my base, I needed to get moving on my rotors. The hands of time were spinning faster than my rotors.
Without going into too much detail—especially in case you want to do this project at home—it took me a lot of time to figure out how to get the blades to work the way I wanted.
I had less than a week to finish the project. Adding to the pressure, just about everyone else in the class had already wrapped up their less-complicated, less sciencetastic windmills.
I feared I might be spinning my wheels (or rotors?) on this project.
Going around in circles
Since I didn’t want to turn in my project late, I asked Ms. M if I could come into her class during my study hall and other free periods.
“As long as the classroom is available, you’re welcome to,” she told me.
For the next week, I worked on my project with every free moment that I could. This included recess and the end of lunch period. Ms. M even helped me whenever she could. This was really nice of her because I know she’s usually busy preparing for her classes or grading papers.
But then, I hit a huge roadblock. Or rather, a woodblock. The wooden part of my windmill needed a hole to attach to the blades. None of the regular classroom materials were strong enough to make a hole.
“I have an idea,” Ms. M said after I had stared at the hole-less wood for way too long. “I’ll call Mr. C in the Technology Department. He may have a drill we can use.”
Talk about going above and beyond for building a sciencetastic project!
Feeling drained
Instead of going to recess the next day, I went to Ms. M’s classroom. Mr. C would be meeting us with his drill. Wearing safety goggles and having Mr. C stand close by, I carefully drilled my hole in the windmill.
With a little guidance from Mr. C, we got the pieces to fit. But, then the battery didn’t work.
I was near tears, especially since I had only one more day to finish the project. Ms. M didn’t seem the least bit worried.
“We can figure this out together, Noodle.” So, between the three of us, we tinkered and tested, then tinkered and tested some more. Ms. M said this was how real scientists worked.
And guess what? We finally got that windmill to work—just the way I wanted it to! I have never been so happy in my life. It was the best feeling. Ms. M and Mr. C high-fived each other, then me, when the windmill finally started spinning.
If there’s one thing I knew right then and there, it was that my windmill project was sciencetastic.
A win(d)-win situation
I didn’t care what grade I would get on the project. I was already proud of my work.
I guess it wasn’t such a surprise that I got the highest grade in the class, though. But the best part was how Ms. M wrote a note home to my parents. I saved a copy so I could share it with you:
Dear Mr. and Mrs. Newman,
I just wanted to share a story from Noodle’s windmill project. Noodle wanted to go above and beyond and try something different by adding gears and building a base out of wood instead of cardboard. As 7th graders go, she had a lot of motivation and ideas but not necessarily the skills to back it up. So I partnered her with our tech team to learn how to use the electric drill (supervised, of course) and the gears. (You’ll be glad to know the tech teacher commented on how polite and respectful Noodle was.)
We have probably seen Noodle an average of 1.5 hours a day since last Thursday, as she’s been stopping by between periods and even staying in during recess to work on her windmill. I’ve been impressed with her motivation and refusal to give up, even when try after try failed for a variety of reasons (largely, poor gluing technique). That’s science for you!
Today, Noodle was finally successful!She’ll be ready for any home improvement projects you have soon! It’s been a pleasure seeing her patience, work ethic, and scientific passion grow this year. I hope Noodle continues to challenge herself in the coming years—her hard work pays off.
Best wishes,
Ms. M
For the rest of the day, I walked on Cloud Nine (as in, I was beyond happy). Even my big sister, Jill was impressed. And she’s not someone who normally compliments me.
A whirlwind of emotions
Although the praise was nice, I worked so hard because it was fun—and also a little scary—to take on that challenge. For the entire week before the project was due, I didn’t know if my windmill was going to work. But I knew I didn’t want to give up.
While I don’t think I’ll be building windmills again anytime soon, I was glad that I didn’t just do the minimum of what was asked in our assignment. By going above and beyond what Ms. M expected, I didn’t just learn a lot about windmills—I also learned about myself and what I could do.
I hope Ms. M is right that my hard work and dedication will pay off in the future. I definitely don’t want to twist in the wind the next time I’m faced with a big challenge.
If I do, though, you can be sure I’ll write about it!
Until next time, be your best you.
Do you have any stories about learning an important lesson from an experience? Please share with them me in the comments section!
