A letter from a Destination ImagiNation teacher
Evan was an 8th-grade student of mine who, in the beginning of the year, was afraid to blink if he hadn't asked me first. After the first few weeks of school, I started to become irritated when he kept asking question after question about what he was supposed to write in his weekly journals; he was afraid his responses would be wrong. I kept telling him that there was no right or wrong answer – I only expected good writing. About five weeks into the school year, the journal topic was "what scares you the most." Evan wrote that he was terrified of taking risks due to fear of failure or doing something wrong.
This was about the time I started speaking to students about DI and was recruiting for team members among a very skeptical student body. After reading Evan's essay, I invited him to join by telling him that this competition would be a "safe way to take a risk.” He decided to trust me and formed a team with two girls. The three had a great time finding their solution and preparing for competition. Evan really came out of his shell, and a wonderful, witty personality emerged from a previously shy, introverted young man. We arrived at the competition at Reed High, and his team had a wonderful competition and experience, despite placing last. We celebrated the success of participation the following week at school and moved on to finish the school year.
Evan reverted to his shy, introverted self among his peers, but he kept me posted with what he was up to as he came into class each day. During the last week of school, I had students write their final portfolio assessment for the year. I asked students to answer the question "Where did you get your best ideas for writing this year?" Here is Evan's response to the question:
"I got my best ideas from DI and the competition. Seeing all this collective energy of ideas gave me new ideas for my writing. I get shivers from just thinking about it. I also learned to break out of my fear of showcasing, which I now know I can do! It is all very cool! I also learned to not be afraid of my thoughts and feelings; I was always afraid that what I thought was stupid. DI taught me that I can express myself and not be afraid. Something clicked and now my thoughts are going a billion miles per hour. It's scary, but I like it."
I've always believed that the process is more important than the product in DI; this story proves that belief. Thank you for continuing to lead and organize the DI Tournaments, because it does make a difference to our children and students.
