I think I can

Today after lunch, I read the students a story about animals, and we were talking about the various characteristics of each animal. I illustrated on the white board when the pictures in the book weren't sufficient (ex. the webbed feet of a duck). I was trying to show them how a frog can croak by putting air in a pouch in his neck, and the students wanted me to draw it on the board. I'm good at stick figures, or occasionally a farm animal, but beyond that, my skill rapidly deteriorates. Often I'll tell my students what I'm drawing, and that eliminates a lot of problems. For example, I'll say, "This is a horse. See, here's the mane, and this is the tail." Anyway, it's hard to draw a stick-figure frog. I said, "I don't think I can draw a frog." Cycret replied, "Uh uh, Ms. Marshall. You need to say, 'I think I can, I think I can.'" I laughed, because she was right. We'd been having problems with students whining, "I can't" when I asked them to do something, so we'd read The Little Engine That Could and really discussed how to face challenges. So I then modeled what I had taught them to do, and I drew a frog on the board. And I must say, it was a beautiful frog. I amazed even myself, and I haven't brought myself to erase it yet.