TEACHER'S KIT

BURIAL SITE

STRESS

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ACORNS & OAKS

Open a word processor or take out a piece of paper and take 5 minutes to list all the things that you think you can't do. Try to remember some of the "I Can't" statements you have made recently. Print an "I Can't" Burial Tombstone to use for your list.

Exchange your list of "I Can'ts" with a partner. Read the lists to one another, but add "I Can" in front of everything on the list. Turn your partner's impossibilities into possibilities!

"Bury" your "I Can'ts" by throwing the list into the trashcan and performing the following funeral service. Repeat this Eulogy as "I Can't" is sent to its final resting place:

"Dearest family and friends, we come together on this momentous day to pay our last tribute of disrespect for the words, "I Can't." While "I Can't" was with us here on earth, our lives were all touched by defeat and down-trodden attitudes. We now commit "I Can't" back to that prison of despair from which it came. To this very day, those words have something to say to each of us in their death, but we will no longer listen! We must move forward and substitute confidence for self-doubt. The passing of "I Can't" says to us that we must work passionately and unrelentingly for the realization of our dreams. Like Grandma Moses once said, "life is what you make it, always has been, always will be."

Print an IC Card (like an ID card) to keep in your wallet, billfold, or desk. The IC stands for "I Can" and the card serves as a reminder of the day you made the choice to rid your vocabulary of "I CAN'T."
(The IC Card should be printed in grayscale or color to obtain the best quality.)

Celebrities with Learning Disabilities-They Learned to Bury Their "I Can'ts!"

"I visualized where I wanted to be, what kind of player I wanted to become. I knew exactly where I wanted to go, and I focused on getting there."
Michael Jordan

(Can you believe Michael Jordan was cut from his high school basketball team?)