“Yet” and The MTS Culture of Running

BY ANDREW DAVIS

With curriculum nights complete, outdoor education trips underway, and a few weeks until Grandparents and Special Friends Day, I have made time to visit classes. Yesterday morning, I visited three classrooms, and all three shared one word in common, “yet.”

“Yet” is the hallmark of the growth mindset, the belief that we can improve through effort and practice. Before reading the wonderful story Buffalo Fluffalo to Kindergarten, I joined their morning meeting in which Kate accentuated her use of the word “yet” with a star-topped wand with “YET” decorated on both sides. After the story and some reflection on how to be a good friend and not “act tough,” I headed over to Robin’s first-grade homeroom, where her students came up with examples of what they couldn’t do yet. I proudly added, “I can’t speak Mandarin YET, but I practice daily on Duo Lingo.” A while later, I joined 4th grade math, and the word “yet” and other growth mindset reminders covered the walls. 

“Yet” is everywhere at MTS, including our running culture. At last week’s K-2 Curriculum Night, Marcia shared how students build up to being able to run a mile. Most students can’t run a mile in these first weeks of school. Over weeks and months of practice and gradual training, all MTS students develop the fitness and the mindset to pace themselves for a mile. In doing so, our students experience the physical accomplishment of a growth mindset. 

Running, including the mile run, continues through all nine years of the MTS education. While some only run the requisite PE miles, many join our cross-country teams. And, each year, forty or more members of our larger school community complete the famous Dipsea Race. This August, two students doubled that effort and were the youngest runners to complete the Double Dipsea.

This fall, we all have the opportunity to run together to support the Bionic Project, an organization dedicated to “Dismantling disability bias through education, story, and sport.” Again this year, Bionic Project adaptive athletes will work with our students on Wednesday, October 23. We ALL then have the opportunity to run in support of and with adaptive athletes in the Bionice 5K and Mile race at Chrissy Field on the morning of Sunday, October 27. Our first-grade students and above will be fully “trained” to complete a mile run, and our kindergarten students are encouraged to try it! 

If running a mile or 3.1 miles sounds like something you can’t do yourself. Please consider adding the word “yet” to your vocabulary as we teach our students to do. You have exactly a month to train!

I hope to see many of you supporting the Bionic Project, the MTS culture of running, and the power of the growth mindset. 

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Register Here for the Bionic Project Race

Select “Mount Tamalpais School” from the team.
If the cost of the race might prevent you or your child from participating, please contact Joelle Dodge (jdodge@mttam.org) for a registration code.