Inch and Miles: The Journey to Success

I first heard about Coach John Wooden's Pyramid of Success from the director at my school. Because I loved the message of each of the blocks, I was interested to see that aside from books targeted for adults, he also had books for children, including Inch and Miles: The Journey to Success.

The book starts out with what Inch and Miles view as an easy question, "What is success?" However, they quickly realize that it is about more than winning medals, being popular, or having the best toys. Success is defined in a way that aligns with the way my parents instilled in me throughout my life - doing my best (and with integrity), rather than being the best was what was important. When Inch and Miles express concern about how they will know that they are doing their best, Mr. Wooden sends them on an adventure to explore the Pyramid of Success. Various animals give them clues throughout the book, each with a poetic description of one of the characteristics off of the pyramid.

I am still thinking through how I would recommend the use in class. In some ways the longer text on each page might not hold some students' attention to read straight through. It seems it would be more effective to read in parts, which would be easy to do by breaking down into different blocks (or groups of blocks) after reading the introduction. It would be a perfect supplement to health and/or character education themed units, as well as at the start of the year when establishing classroom expectations and setting goals.

I also love the possibilities for writing teaching points for older students. For example, sharing the book, as well as his site can be juxtaposed to discuss adjusting for audience and purpose. Students will notice that some of the language is different (such as industriousness vs. hard work); however, the message is the same. They can also consider the presentation for varied audiences.