The Starfish Story

My NIE classmates will probably be most familiar with the Starfish Story. But I'm retelling it here anyway cos today, I experienced the essence of it.

The Starfish Story
There was a man who would take his dog on a walk along the beach before nightfall each day.

One day as he was out, he saw in the distance a figure moving back and forth along the shoreline, almost dancing. He was curious and he walked nearer to get a closer look. As he got nearer, he saw that it was a young man in his late 20's, who was running back and forth from the tide, and it looked like he was tossing something in the water each trip.

When he got up to the young man, he asked him what he was doing. The young man didn't stop what he was doing but as he ran back from the shore he picked up a starfish that was on the sand and said" The sun is setting and the tide is going out, so I am throwing the starfish back into the water. He jogged up to the water and tossed that starfish just past the tide and began his search for another one.

But, son the man said. Look up and down, there are hundreds of miles of shoreline and thousands and thousands of starfish, you can't possible make a difference.

The young man didn't reply and found another and jogged out to the water and tossed it in past the tide and as he jogged back toward the old man. He said, "I made a difference to that one!"

The man just turned around and walked home. That night, those words rang in his ears. He couldn't concentrate or sleep very well. "I made a difference to that one" the young man's voice called out to him.

The next evening as the beautiful sun was setting; off in the distance you could see two dancing figures off in the distance. This time both the young man and old man were running back and forth finding and saving starfish.

The other Starfish Story
It saddened me to step into a class that was not prepared for the task that they had been assigned. As a result, the lesson could not continue as planned. I had exhausted all the questions that I was to ask, and did all I could. The class was non-responsive and presented a "I don't care attitude".

Left with 30 minutes with them, I decided to take things into my own hands and taught out of the curriculum. After making them promise that they'd be prepared for their presentations in the next lesson, I turned onto the topic of responsibility, and eventually, about doing the best they could.

I must have shocked the class as I made them all stand up. They probably expected another punishment or scolding, but I had them raise their right hands as high up as they could. Some reached up high whilst some raised their hands half-heartedly. I asked them, "Can you reach any higher?" Some attempted to reach higher. Some tip-toed. I asked again, "Is that the best you can do?" A girl at the back of the class stood on her chair. The rest of the class looked. I challenged them again, "Can anyone reach higher than that?" A guy climbed onto his desk and reached higher. I challenged them again, "Can anyone else beat that?" The tallest guy in the class stood on his table and reached for the ceiling. The rest of the students wowed at his achievement whilst he smiled in shy pride.

I got them all to sit down again, and asked them if they thought they could get any higher than that. They said yes. They said they'd get to the third floor. Some said they'd get to the roof, whilst others said they'd get on the plane, or even to space. I linked them back to the Values Inculcation Programme in the morning about thinking innovatively and out of the box, to find solutions to their problems. I drew them back to get them thinking that with everything they did, do they ask themselves, "Is this my best? What can I do to reach higher, to do better?"

I asked them about life. I asked them who they were living their life for. Some said parents, some said for food, some said for the sake of living, some said for nothing. But one girl up front whispered, "For myself." I probed. I asked her what she meant by that. She said, "It means living my life to the best I can and doing the best I can."

When I said she was right, the whole class became silent. It seemed as though that thought never occured to them.

As I allowed the last five minutes of the lesson to the class to do what they wished, I spoke to a few students personally. I stopped by the girl who gave the reply. I asked about her school work. She shyly told me that she only passed two subjects last term. I told her that she had a very good outlook to life, and that she should use that to push herself to achieve bigger things. She promised to do her best. She nodded her head with commitment when I told her I'd love to see her do better this term.

After all the things I said to that class of 40 kids, I wouldn't be surprised if they had already forgotten what I had said when I stepped out of the class. But I knew I had touched that one girl, and made a difference in her life.

It got me thinking about the Starfish Story that MOE so proudly used to attract us trainee teachers into the teaching profession. Yes, it'd be a mammoth task to touch the lives of all my students all at once. I look at all my students and I see that there's so much to do, so much potential to tap on, so many lives to touch. But I take comfort in the Starfish Story, and it makes me smile to know that I can touch them slowly, one by one. And that itself is an achievement.

Today, I made a difference to one. Tomorrow, perhaps more.