Never Give Up

Eight words for the students who keep going when the going gets hard.

Meet each word one at a time, then take the quiz to lock them in.

1. 1 achievement noun
2. 2 courage noun
3. 3 improve verb
4. 4 invent verb
5. 5 grateful adjective
6. 6 glorious adjective
7. 7 anxiously adverb
8. 8 desperately adverb

Nelson's word

noun

Achievement. A noun, and one I file with pride. I record it under something good that you reach by working hard, not by luck and not by accident. Learning to swim is an achievement. Reading your first whole book is an achievement. The word carries the effort inside it, so you cannot separate the two. When someone lists their achievements, they are naming the hard things they finished. State it precisely: an achievement is a reward you earned. That is why it is worth knowing.

Finishing the long race was the greatest achievement of her year.

Nelson's word

noun

Courage. A noun, and a large one. I file it under the strength to face fear or danger without running away. Courage is not the absence of fear; it is what you show when you feel the fear and step forward anyway. The firefighter has courage. The new student who says hello first has courage. Same word, whether the danger is a burning building or an empty seat at lunch. State it precisely: courage is doing the hard thing while you are still afraid. Learn it, and you will know it when you see it.

It took real courage to stand up and speak in front of the whole school.

Vinny's word

verb

Improve! To take a thing and make it BETTER than it was before! When the players improve their passing, each practice lifts them a little higher than the last. That is the verb, and it is mine, and it is the most hopeful action there is, because it says nothing has to stay the way it started. You do not have to be great today; you only have to be better than yesterday. Do that enough times in a row, and greatness comes to find you. That is the verb, and it is heroic.

The players improve their passing every time they practice together.

Vinny's word

verb

Invent! To make or think up something BRAND NEW, a thing that did not exist until you dreamed it into being! When the students invent a machine, they build what no one handed them. That is the verb, and it is mine, and it is pure creation. Someone invented the wheel. Someone invented the pencil in your hand. Every invention started as one person refusing to accept that the way things are is the only way they can be. That is the verb, and it changes the world.

The students invent a machine that folds paper airplanes on its own.

Jake's word

adjective

Grateful. Oh, a warm one, and it is mine. As an adjective, grateful describes the feeling you get when someone helps you and your heart fills up with thanks. You are grateful for a ride home, grateful for a kind word, grateful for a friend who stayed. Look at how it is built: grate plus ful, and ful here means full of. Grateful is being full of thanks. Its Frown is ungrateful, the person who is handed a gift and complains. Could we be more specific than saying she felt happy? We could say she felt grateful, and tell the reader exactly why. Magnifique.

She was grateful for the friend who stayed until the very end.

Jake's word

adjective

Glorious. An adjective, and a grand one, mine to describe a thing so wonderful that it deserves great praise. A glorious sunset, a glorious victory, a glorious morning after a long storm: each one earns the word. Glorious is not merely nice; it is nice turned all the way up, big enough to make people cheer. Its Frown is dreadful, the thing so bad you want to look away. Could we be more specific than saying the welcome was good? We could call it glorious, and let the reader feel the whole street cheering.

The team returned home to a glorious welcome that filled the whole street.

Benny's word

adverb

Anxiously. An adverb, and I coach my players to hear the worry inside it. It tells you HOW something is done, and anxiously means it is done in a worried, nervous way, with a knot in your stomach and one eye on the clock. He waited anxiously. She watched anxiously. The adverb does not just say what happened; it hands you the feeling underneath. Its opposite is calmly, and knowing both makes you sharper. Here is my coaching point: when you show a reader how nervous someone feels, do not tell them the person was nervous. Say they waited anxiously. Make it sharper, and the whole sentence works harder for you.

He waited anxiously by the door for the test results to come.

Benny's word

adverb

Desperately. An adverb, and a strong one, so I coach my players to save it for when it counts. It tells you HOW something is done, and desperately means it is done in a way that shows you badly need something, with everything you have and no plan B. The runners desperately wanted one more chance. She reached desperately for the rope. This is not ordinary wanting; this is wanting so hard it takes over. Here is my coaching point: desperately is a big word, so use it for the big moments, and it will hit every time. Make it count, and it will make your reader lean in.

The runners desperately wanted one more chance at the finish line.