Lydia and I were talking about school, hers and mine. We considered motivation, and what fires people up to be and do the best they can. She told me about her high school history teacher and an upcoming presentation assignment that Lydia wants to nail. In part, she is motivated by the teacher’s rubric:
A equals awesome.
B is not bad.
C is meh.
D is “Um…”
Lydia is aiming for “awesome.” I would go pretty far, too, for an authentic awesome. And if on the first draft I got a meh, I might laugh at the teacher’s humor, figure out what to do, and keep trying.
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Photograph of the CN Tower, Toronto, August 2010.
leaf stitch word 
My kids’ elementary school music teacher also has a funny rubric. I don’t remember the rest of it, but 1 = “You made me cry.” (NYS scoring system is 1-4, with 1 being the worst.) I should mention that most of the score in elemenary music is based on behavior.
I can’t really picture her crying though. She’s the same teacher that told the kid she rides around on a broom, and Sophia (and possibly some parents) believed her for a couple of years.