Lance Scranton: You got this!
Events in California and the tragic results of fires and the mass destruction that is taking place are on all of our minds and it is important to understand the extreme difficulties involved in keeping a healthy perspective when your whole world seems like it is falling apart around you. The best thing we can do is to keep people in our prayers, help wherever we feel led to serve and understand that disasters help to make each one of us realize how much we count on each other. Remember that we can help others by doing all we can to offer support wherever, and whenever, disaster strikes.
I ask students every Monday to list the happy, mid or sad news from the weekend and then what has gone well so far in 2025. I have them write their news up on a big whiteboard and then we have a class discussion. Now, there are a few reasons this is good practice in the classroom setting.
First, class discussions reinforce the idea that others have worth and value and we should listen to them. Second, it promotes self-discipline and an understanding that what is happening in your life is often a shared experience.
Thirdly, it allows the teacher to express concern, interest, and genuine care about the lives of students and, finally, class discussions teach students that their voice is important but only heard if they speak up and be heard.
Students will list things such as relatives visiting, sports scores, family events, birthdays and school-related things like tests, quizzes, field trips and gossip. I try to dispense with the gossip by explaining that we should have all parties present who are being talked about and students are never allowed to complain about other staff members during this time because context is important when voicing a complaint about a teacher or staff member.
It is a great opportunity for students to share what is important in their life and for each of us to dispense with the past week and begin afresh and keep a healthy perspective. We get to talk about what happened, what’s about to happen and get focused on what needs to be done in the present.
Someone wiser than me once said that depression is living in the past and anxiety is being too concerned about the future. It can be really difficult for young people to be mindful about what’s happening right now when they ruminate on what took place already and worry about what is going to happen next.
But young people aren’t unique in this respect because adults can sometimes find themselves not enjoying the present because their focus is in the past — or on the future. It seems like a simple concept (that we should be focused on what’s happening right now) but human nature shows us that we are pretty good at overcomplicating things because it makes it easier for us to do what we think is right.
When someone offers a possible solution or reason for something we rationalize that, “well, it’s more complicated than you understand.” It might be, but it actually could be simple too and allowing students to see that they are valuable, worth considering and part of a really big world of experiences helps them understand how decisions impact all of us in many different ways.
A simple mental exercise to begin the week lets students know that embracing what is going on right now depends on dispensing with what has happened and not getting too focused on what hasn’t happened yet. I often end the discussion by saying, “You got this week, now let’s go get it!”
Not sure what is happening with your week so far but I can tell you with absolute certainty that what has happened is over and what’s going to happen hasn’t taken place yet so take advantage of what’s going on right now and go get this week.
Because you got this!
Lance Scranton is a career educator and has made his home in Moffat County for the past 26 years. He offers his views and opinions as part of the ongoing conversation about our community, country and world. Reach him at lance@columnist.com

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