Do the universe a favour and don’t hide your magic

~ Fridgesays

This quote is from Yung Pueblo, a wonderful young writer and creative energy.

Fine, I picked the quote because it has the word magic in it, but it also spoke to me and reflected a journey I am constantly in. Recently in the UK we have announced GCSE results, as a teacher its my job to analyse the results my pupils got, celebrate the good and recreate it, critically analyse the negative and make sure the next cohort do better.

I had two pupils in my class that were capable of getting a B grade, but they got a D. I wasn’t surprised as they had both disengaged at various parts of the course / school life. This was their choice. They didn’t take up offers of revision sessions before or after school, they didn’t come to Saturday revision classes, they didn’t answer questions in class and on the surface I believe they received the grade that reflected their effort.

However, in doing so they didn’t show the universe what they were capable of. They didn’t sparkle, or shine. In front of them stood and opportunity and they let it slip. Does it matter? Probably not, not in the grand scheme of things. I’m sure they will reflect on the course and find blame on myself as a teacher, on others that distracted them, ill health, boyfriend/relationship issues or something, somewhere…but will they ever realise it was actually down to them not being prepared to show the universe they had extra sparkle?

Despite my career path I loathe examinations. That aside, it made me polish my wand. Reflect and learn. At first, it made me look at my other classes, recognise similar patterns and in the last few weeks I have moved seating plans, made phone calls home, set bespoke pieces of homework and then I applied this thought process to me. To today and what I did, or didn’t do yesterday. Exams are a unique way to pigeon hole a success at a given time, but actually each of us choose to shine and some of us are living much like our mobile phones, with low battery. 

What can I improve on tomorrow that I didn’t do well today? What would make me 2% better, kinder, happier, healthier…the list could go on. I really believe the list should go on. We never nail life, we should be nailing aspects each and every day. Make today better than yesterday and show the universe so much sparkle it will wish it had sunglasses. Have an awesome tomorrow 🙂 


 

38 thoughts on “Do the universe a favour and don’t hide your magic”

  1. I don’t think exams truly reflect everyones potential or ability, Also some schools are really good at teaching how to succeed in exams, not necessarily how to master the subject. #TriumphantTales

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  2. I love this. I try to tell my daughter that the effort she puts in will show . I want her to be everything she can.
    #TriumphantTales

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  4. I wish I had seen this post when I was still at school. I was one of the clever ones and it was something I was often singled out for, by teachers and my classmates. The positive attention was something I thrived from. But when it turned negative, which it very quickly did, I stopped trying as hard. Luckily I still got good grades, albeit not as good as they could have been. But I very much let them dull my sparkle and I look back and think what an idiot I was! It’s a lesson I hope I’ll be able to pass on to R. #thesatsesh

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  5. I didn’t terribly in all my exams in the end but I still went on and did what I wanted to do. I think it’s about attitude rather than a certain type of intelligence and obviously having people around you that support and encourage no matter what always helps! I just love your blog 😘

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  6. oh gosh I remember the pressure of exams and even though I passed them and even then passed university, for such a long time I dreamt that I was failing them and I would wake up to be relieved that that time in my life was actually over. I shouldn’t have stressed as much as I did, but I tend to stress a bit more than I should on a regular basis. (I will continue to work on that). I love that quote though!!! Great post #thesatseh

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    1. Thanks Hun. I think ‘society’ needs to chill and remember that made up grades from made up tests aren’t all that, but I also do feel kids don’t sparkle enough due to self doubt

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  10. I hate the way our teens, at an age where they are finding out so much about themselves as people, have to work their socks off for a set of exams taken over just a few weeks. At least with course work if you’d had a bad week of acne/boyfriend issues/got drunk/crashed the car/argued with your Dad it would not show in your final grade!
    I agree that we need to help kids to show their magic during their exams but with everything else going on in their young lives plus the added bonus of a whole load of hormones, we are setting our young people up to fail. I know I would have been that kid who got a D (I was) but I was lucky in that I could get to university with my 2 mediocre A Levels. You just can’t do that now.
    Thank goodness that teachers like you get it. I hope you can make your pupils see it too and I love the mobile phone analogy. With my own kids I tell them that they have no choice but to get their heads down. Its a tough thing for such young people to learn but you are right, if they dont show their magic, who will?
    Sorry for the ramble…..you can tell assessment makes me mad!!
    #thesatsesh

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  17. You had me at the title and then I was hanging off your every word! Teachers are hardly EVER this candid about their reflections after examination results are published so this post is so refreshing in our profession. Also it’s got my fave message – have a growth mindset – students AND teachers…. LOVE this – will be sharing with colleagues 🙂 xxx #thesatsesh

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  19. I always performed better in coursework pieces rather than exams. This showed in results too. Great quote though! Apologies for the late comment, holidays got in the way, better late than never! Thanks for linking up to #TriumphantTales, hope to see you on Tuesday!

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