Run Free

John was frightened when his dad told him he signed him up for Run Free, the after-school running club. He ______threw down the book that he was reading. “I can’t run! I’m the worst athlete in the school!”

John once played basketball, and it was awful. Dave, the star of his team, always ______ when John made mistakes. There was no way John was going to embarrass (使难堪) himself in a running club. His dad, however, insisted, and John soon realized that he had no ______ about the matter.

The weekend before the club’s first meeting, John's dad took him to buy some running shoes. Later that day, his dad ______ that he should go on a run in the park near their home. John really didn’t feel like it. “Come on,” said his dad, “You can take Buck with you. That’ll make it ______.” John loved taking the family dog out for long walks sometimes. So, he took Buck outside.

After a few minutes of walking, John ______ that he would give running a try. He saw a lamppost (路灯) far away and decided to try to make it to that lamppost. To his surprise, he did it, but he felt completely out of breath.

When John got home, he told his dad about his ______. “It’s only going to get easier,” said his dad. “Pretty soon, if you run each day, you’ll run farther.” John thought about what his dad said, and he went out running with Buck again the next day.

John went farther, and even though he ended up out of breath again, he kind of liked ______ himself to see how far he could make it. He ran every day and by the end of the week, he was looking forward to the first club meeting.

Learning to Cook

Do you know how to cook? More and more students are interested in learning how to cook.

Taking a Chance

When Emily handed Ms. Miller her homework, she couldn’t imagine how writing a short story would lead to more than a grade.

Emily, who was shy, had few close friends. In her art class, when other students discussed painting skills, she usually kept quiet. No one except Sofia seemed to notice her at all.

Emily wanted to invite Sofia to see the art show at the local museum. Every time she had an opportunity to bring it up, she would start by talking about her own painting. She wasn’t sure where else to begin and she never got to the invitation before the bell rang.

When Emily received an A⁺ on her story, she was excited. She knew that writing was fun and came easily to her, but she didn’t realize she was good at it. Ms. Miller’s opinion about her story made her think she had a special talent, kind of like Sofia’s for painting. Ms. Miller encouraged her to enter an upcoming national writing competition.

At the beginning, Emily didn’t want to enter the competition. She was worried about losing her new pride in herself if she didn’t win. But Ms. Miller insisted that taking risks was part of knowing who you were and what you could do.

Emily finally agreed to enter the competition. When she won second place, she was still proud of herself to be brave enough to enter the competition. She felt so good when she took the risk of asking Sofia to the art show, and Sofia said yes.

One of the most important life skills is self-discipline (自律). It helps us develop healthy lifestyle habits.

Everyone feels good when they know that they are doing good things. Probably one of the biggest problems with self-discipline is the word “discipline”. Discipline really does not have to be painful or difficult. You can start by taking small actions and only one at a time until it becomes something that really makes you feel good when you are doing it. Let us say that you want to lose a little weight or get in better shape. You do not have to sign up at the gym and begin a 5-day a week program. What about walking around your community once a day for a week, and then increasing it to two times a day for two weeks?

It really starts with finding your motivation (动力). Why do you want to lose weight or get in shape? Is that reason strong enough? We need to remember that we have choices and one of them is to say “no” to the things that will take our attention away from completing things to make our life happier and healthier. We have the power to say “yes” to right things, no matter how small, each day, to head us in the direction of our goals.

We all know that when people make a plan with small, simple steps to get to the goals they have, they are more likely to reach them. You need to listen to your heart and know what effort you want to put into it as you move towards living a better life.

You don’t need to make this hard. Just do something to head yourself in the right direction today and then do it again tomorrow and every day after that! Remember, a baby step is better than no step at all.

For years, scientists have known how to measure (衡量) the intelligence (智力) of a person. Recently they began to do research into group intelligence. Early research suggests that group intelligence is not the total of the intelligence of the persons in it. So what is the secret of a group’s success?

Researchers at a research company and a university have both dealt with this question and they believe they finally have a handle on what makes some work teams successful. In the study of the company, researchers collected information and studied it to find patterns (模式). Are members of effective groups friends outside of work? Do members with similar personalities work together best? They discussed many opinions, but found no patterns to support them. In fact, who was in the team did not make a difference. Instead, the difference between more and less effective teams lay in the interaction (互动) among the members. The university group collected information by using digital badges (数字徽章) that people agreed to wear. These badges provided a wealth of information that included how long people spoke, what kinds of gestures they made, where they were looking during interaction, and their facial expressions.

As in the study of the company, the university research group found that the key to an effective team was how members interacted.

Among the findings, the most important is that, in effective teams, members spoke for almost the same amount of time—not at every meeting or interaction, but across the course of a project. The second one was that members showed empathy, an understanding of how it might feel to walk in somebody else’s shoes. A high level of these two characteristics makes a member feel comfortable when he voices his opinions and makes suggestions without fear of a negative response from other members. They believe that others will listen to them and value what they say.

One might argue that most of these findings are obvious. However, understanding group intelligence can help people make the basic changes that are necessary to improve group performance.

Teens Making a Difference

The power of teens is making an influence. These students are showing they have a valuable talent for inspiring younger children to do their best.

Tutors (辅导教师) Program

Younger children sometimes are worried about their homework. In one Seattle after-school program, student tutors come to help. They help the children with artworks when their homework is done. The younger students are happy to get help with their homework. They are even happier to get the attention of older students.

The younger students say the tutors are great role models. The student tutors say they get a great experience from working with younger children. It gives them confidence and improves their communication skills.

Youth Coaches Program

What’s better than a play day at school? A play day with teen coaches! Just ask the six hundred students at a Florida primary school. Each year, they spend a special day with some of high school athletes.

The teens teach all kinds of athletic skills. Some children learn to play basketball while others learn to play tennis or football. The teens also take time to explain how they balance sports and schoolwork and the young listeners hang on every word the teens say!

Dance Teachers Program

When parents in one Boston community were asked what they wished their children could do after school, they said, “Dance!” They probably wouldn’t predict what happened next. Six teens volunteered to learn Latin dance. They wanted to teach the children in the community how to dance!

The teens formed a group and began sharing the dance steps they learned. The program grew quickly. More teens became teachers and more younger children learned to dance. For the younger children, it was a chance to spend time with teen role models that they admired. Today, the program is a big success. Over three hundred children take part in the classes every year.