Climbing the Wall: an Inspirational and Motivational Message for All

Climbing the Wall is not a cinematic masterpiece.  It is just under three minutes in length and the recording quality could be described as mediocre.  And it is the most inspiring, touching three minutes that I have experienced in a very long time.

The video features a man with severe gross motor impairment as he embarks on a challenge to climb a rock-climbing wall.  As he began his ascent, it appeared as though he would be able to maybe climb a marker or two up the wall.  What happened next could lift the most leaden of hearts.  Despite the incredible difficulty he was experiencing in placing his hands and feet in the correct positions, his sheer grit and determination propelled him further and further up the wall, to the final few seconds of video, which showed his beaming face as he sat perched atop the wall, to the complete delight of the onlookers and aids.  

We were asked to sum up the video with one word, but in truthfulness, I was left with a feeling that was difficult to describe at all.  To me, this video was a striking reminder of the dangers of pigeon-holing students; placing limitations on them, based on what we think their abilities, or lack thereof, will allow them to do, or prevent them from doing.  It was an inspiring demonstration of the importance of encouraging our students to never refrain from striving for a goal, and of helping our students to develop a sense of commitment and determination so that they will possess grit and resilience no matter which wall they are attempting to climb. 

The evening rounded out with the opportunity to work collaboratively in groups on a document in Google Drive.  There are several features that working in Google docs permits that I find to be incredibly useful in collaborative work.  The most convenient feature that I enjoy, as well as my students, is the ability to have more than one person working on the document at the same time and in real time.  For our group, the chat feature in Google docs allowed us to communicate and work purposefully, as we were in three different locations at the time of collaboration.  As an educator, being able to enter the document and access a log of the updates that were made to the document, as well as the name of the person updating  and times the updates were made, is an invaluable tool that gives much insight as to who was working on what, and how much time each person was spending on task.  Lastly, the automatic save feature eliminates the need for seeking for the correct place or folder to save the document, as well as being terrifically convenient for those who do not make it a habit to save their work routinely.  Google docs are a staple in my classroom diet, and have been very beneficial to my students and also to myself, in the role of both educator and student.