Students at Brown County Middle School learn skills to help them be successful long after they leave the hallways there.
As part of the sixth-grade English-language arts curriculum students learned about successful individuals across the world. The students then learned how to identify the indicators of success, like perseverance, effort, grit and setting goals, according to sixth-grade ELA teacher Debbie Olson.
Olson teaches sixth-grade ELA alongside teacher Alyssa Stanley.
Taking what they learned, students wrote about what success meant to them and found evidence in the different texts they read to support their ideas.
“We are very proud of their efforts to connect what they are learning about in class to BCMS’s work with goal setting and success, and it is evident through their written work,” Olson said.
“Providing each student with an opportunity to express their individual ideas of what success looks like has empowered them and given them ownership of their own learning and successes.”
Principal Brian Garman said basic communication skills, like writing essays, are “critical to the future success of our students regardless of the career path they choose.”
“It is so fun to watch the growth of our students from year to year and to get to share it with our community,” he said.
So, what does it take to be successful? What does success look like? How is success determined? Read on to learn what some sixth-graders think.
Parker Arndt
Success means many different things to many different people. To me success takes hard work and dedication. This is important because if you don’t work hard you will not get to your goals. Another idea is to never give up. If you don’t give up you will be motivated to accomplish your goals to lead you to success. My last idea is you need a quality education. You need education to know how you’re going to complete your goals.
Many people have quotes about success. One of them is by Derek Jeter. Derek Jeter says, “They may be people that have more talent than you, but there’s no excuse for anyone to work harder than you do.” Also, success can be accomplished by never giving up. David White says in an article about the Wright Brothers that “Wilbur Wright made the first experiment with the new manpowered airplane flight. The flight didn’t last long and ended in a crash, which took the Wrights a few days to repair.” That means that even though they crashed they did not give up. In addition, you can achieve success with a good education. In President Obama’s national address to America’s schoolchildren in 2009, he says, “And no matter what you want to do with your life, I guarantee that you’ll need an education to do it.” These were just a few of the many people that showed what success is and how to achieve it.
In conclusion, there are so many different ways to explain what it takes to be successful. You can get success by never giving up. You can get success by hard work. Finally, you need a good education. The famous Babe Ruth said, “It’s hard to beat a person who never gives up.” Babe Ruth’s quote means to me that people that never give up are good at what they do and that they are going to complete their goals. In conclusion, success takes time. You can’t give up and you have to work hard. A good education will get you there too.
Neka Nabors
Success is many things, even if it is not really achieving what you want or need. One type of success is getting a good education and future (house, career, spouse, etc.). Another type of success is making a difference or achieving a goal. A third type of success could be just failing and learning from it, but knowing you tried hard and kept going is still good. To be successful all you have to do is be persistent, try hard and never give up.
Many people in the past have been successful, and talked about it or other people have written about them. In the article “A Quick Note On Getting Better At Difficult Things” the author Ta-Nehisi Coates stated, “I will feel hopeless again. But right now, I feel high. And one must savor those moments of feeling high, because they are not the norm. The lows are the norm.” Which this really just says that being successful doesn’t just happen, you will work hard till you feel good about it. When you do enjoy the positive energy, because it’s more rare and hard. Another author, David White, was writing about the Wright brothers. He said, “So it was on Dec. 14, 1903 that Wilber Wright made the first experiment with the new man-powered airplane flight. The flight didn’t last long and ended in a crash, which took the Wrights a few days to repair.” Notice that when the brothers failed, they didn’t give up. They repaired the airplane ready to keep going until they succeeded.
Finally, in 2009 President Obama gave a speech to child students. He told them, “The truth is, being successful is hard. You won’t love every subject that you study. You won’t click with every teacher that you have. Not every homework assignment will seem completely relevant to your life at this minute. And you won’t necessarily succeed at everything the first time you try it.” Every word of this is very true and again this shows hard work= success.
As you can see, success is not easy, it’s working hard to achieve something and making a difference. You can still be successful even if you fail at first. So just keep trying and don’t give up. Many people like Obama, Malala, the Wright brothers, Joan of Arc, Hellen Keller and others have had success in different ways. Anyone can have success, but it doesn’t have to be what everyone else has had success in.
“Success isn’t always about greatness, it’s about consistency. Consistent hard work leads to success. Greatness will come,” Dwayne Johnson.
Allison Blee
To me success is based on what you do to achieve it. Success for me is based on three essential things. One thing it takes is learning something after a lot of effort, trial and error. Secondly, it is being able to maneuver around your problems in life. Lastly, it is the ability to achieve any reachable goal — live up to your standards and take on your responsibilities head on! All of these will lead you to success. Success starts with a spark it will soon catch onto the wick and grow a small flame and the candle feeds the flame.
In the article “The Wright Brothers: Air Pioneers” by David White it stated “The flight didn’t last long and ended in a crash, which took the Wrights a few days to repair… Wilbur steered too much and hit the ground … each flight they had done was a bit longer, and the final flight of the day carried Wilbur 825 feet … but it was official: The Wright Brothers had a machine that could fly.” These words show how the Wright brothers made a plane that could fly, but they did it all out of trial and error. They used “persistence to success” (the trial and error). Additionally, the article “George Washington Carver” by Barbara Radner, shows us, “…the soil had worn out. Carver showed us how to improve the land… Carver said the farmers should plant peanuts.” This shows persistence and hard work. From the same article, the author states, “He couldn’t afford paint and paintbrushes, so he instead used blackberry juice and horse hair.” These proves that Carver maneuvered around his problems using his creativity. Also, to prove this point, the Ted Talk about Diana Nyad talked about when life knocks you down, get back up and move forward — learn from mistakes. Lastly, in President Obama’s National Address to America’s School Children it stated, “None of it will matter unless you fulfill your responsibilities…you have a responsibility to yourself to discover yourself …it’s not just important for your own future …the future of America depends on you.” This shows us your responsibility is to find what you have to offer to America, also that to be successful , you must live up to your standards and take on your responsibilities.
Success all depends on your acts, your thoughts and your message to the world. The one thing that connects all of these ideas in the passage is they all try for success and put in the effort. David Bly stated, “Striving for success without hard work is like harvesting where you haven’t planted.”
Bryson Moore
The meaning of success is different for everyone. Many people that are successful today, did not just wake up one morning and all of a sudden they were successful and famous. To be successful it takes lots and lots of hard work and especially a good education, and also a lot- I mean a lot of trial and error. Failure is something that occurs very often when trying to be successful, and when you fail you just have to remember to always get back up. Lastly to me success takes lots of determination and the will to never give up.
Success involves a lot of trying and failing and the Wright Brothers show this through many failures when trying to build the first ever airplane. The text, The Wright Brothers by David White, states that/’On December 14th, 1903, Wilber Wright Made the first test flight with the new man-powered airplane. The flight did not last long and ended in a crash.” After this event, the Brothers rebuilt the plane and tried again. “The next flight they took on the 17th of December, 1903, the plane was aloft for twelve seconds and went 120 feet, but it was official: The Wright Brothers had a machine that could fly!” This shows how they succeeded after experiencing failure over and over again. Learning from failures can often lead to success.
Secondly, Success takes lots of hard work and a good education. As said in the text about Obama’s Speech about Success to schoolchildren in 2009, it states,” What you make of your education will decide nothing less than the future of this country. The future of America depends on you. What you’re learning in school today will determine whether we as a Nation can meet our greatest challenges in the future. The text by Obama also states,” You cannot just drop out of school, and drop into a good job.
That’s not how it works. You’ve got to train for it, and work for it, and learn for it.” Getting the best education is key to success.
Finally, Success takes motivation and determination. Like it said in the Malala Yousafzai story a year after the shooting, Malala is clear about her goal, “I speak for the education of every child, in every corner of the world.” Success takes hard work, determination, and lots of trial and error. Like President Obama said, “Where you are right now does not have to determine where you end up. No one has written your destiny for you, because here in America, You write your own destiny.” Failing should never bring you down. Keep on trying! This quote has inspired me to never give up. “There are so many great things in life, why dwell on negativity.” The quote is by Zendaya.
Diesel McMillion
My two big ideas for success are that you need education to succeed and you need to keep pushing to succeed. In this report you will find out what it takes to succeed. You will also read about some people that have been successful because of these reasons.
My first idea of success is that you need education to succeed. Take the Wright brothers, for example. Some of the greatest people in history were successful because they liked getting an education. The article “The Wright Brothers: Air Pioneers” by David White states that “A large library of books about all kinds of subjects helped the Wright children quench their thirst for knowledge from a young age.” This proves that they liked education — and just look at what they did! Since they liked knowledge from a young age they grew up to be some of the most successful people in history. My second idea of success is that you have to keep pushing through your struggles. Malala Yousafzai, a young girl that stands up for women’s education, was shot in the head for standing up for what she believes in. She still survived after this horrible event. Her goal is clear in the article, “Malala Yousafzai: A Normal Yet Powerful Girl” by NPR staff. It states, “I speak for education of every child, in every corner of the world,” Malala said. This shows that she kept pushing ·even after being shot in the head and she has been successful. She even won the Nobel Peace Prize at such a young age.
In conclusion, my two ideas for success are you need a quality education and you have to keep pushing. This is what you need to be successful. A quote about success that is personal to me is “I never dreamed about success. I worked for it.” Estee Lauder. This quote is amazing because it’s saying don’t just imagine what you could do, go do it!
Grace George
What does it take to be successful? There are many different answers to this question. My answer includes hard work, willingness to be creative, and being dedicated.
Hard work can stand for a lot of things. I believe hard work means not giving up and trying your best. It also means understanding what it is you are working toward. The text, Malala Yousafzai, a Normal, Yet Powerful Girl states, “I need to work hard.” She is the youngest winner of the Nobel Peace Prize. This helps me understand that working hard can lead to success.
Being creative is a strength, not a weakness. It means putting yourself out there and finding new and interesting ways to solve problems. In the text, The Wright Brothers, Air Pioneers, it says, “They also used a bike chain as their propeller.” This quote helped me understand that the Wright Brothers got creative with their work and tried new and unusual things in order to succeed. This also lets me know that being successful means being creative.
Dedication is a way to explain how hard you are working to stay focused on the task at hand. In the passage, Joan of Arc, France’s Young, Tragic Hero, it says, “She had been especially devoted to her religion.” This quote helps explain that everyone has a passion or something they are dedicated to. I learned that Joan of Arc’s passion was her Christianity. She went on to help lead France to many battle successes. This helped me understand that to be successful it also takes dedication and being devoted to your passion.
In conclusion, all of these passages, Malala Yousafzai, The Wright Brothers and Joan of Arc helped show that success takes hard work, dedication and a creative perspective.
Miloh Conrad
Have you ever been asked what it takes for you to be successful? If you have, then you may have answered with hard work, determination, a good education and commitment.
Hard work is one of the most important things for success. Diana Nyad in her “Ted Talk: Never, Ever Give Up” she tells about her 100 mile swim from Cuba to Key West. She tells her listeners to “Never, ever give up!” She was implying that if you give up, not putting in the effort and hard work, you won’t reach the success you are aiming for.
Another crucial ingredient is determination. If you don’t have that mindset of “I can do this. I will do this.” Then you aren’t going to be able to. “Joan of Arc: France’s Young, Tragic Hero” states, “Though she was wounded twice in these many struggles, she fought on.” She ended up leading France to many victories. This shows determination.
The third thing you need to be successful is a good education. President Obama’s National Address to America’s School children is a speech he gave to students at the start of the 2009 school year. He says, “And no matter what you want to do with your life, I guarantee that you’ll need an education to do it!”
Finally, having commitment to a dream is an important part of being successful. Again, in President Obama’s speech, he mentions “There is no excuse for not trying.” This implies if you wanted to do it, you better do it. You have to choose to have that commitment no matter what is going in if you want to succeed.
In conclusion, you need hard work, determination, a good education and commitment to be successful. Remember those things to reach any goal you set out to reach.
