That was the question in our humanities block today. Without giving any examples (as I didn't want to set a precedent) we first came up with a definition for the word.
- Unique
- standing out
- wondrous
- extreme
- astonishing
were some synonyms we came up with. In the era of Youtube and things "going viral" we agreed that we might have seen some "amazing' things on the internet (or television) but that it would have been so much more amazing to see these things for ourselves. It might also be that they weren't necessarily amazing after all when we compared them with some other "amazing" stuff.
We also agreed that amazing depended on/was all relative to our own preferences. For one person, something they felt was amazing might not be amazing to someone else who didn't share that same passion. Sidney Crosby's "golden goal" in the 2010 Olympics against the USA was an example given that fit both of these criteria. Amazing? If you're a hockey fan, then sure. If you don't care about hockey? then maybe not. Amazing to have seen it on tv? But what if you were there? How many more times amazing would that have been if you were a fan?
Sometimes, we've done amazing things too. We tried to think of times when we had accomplished something amazing or done something that might have been a once in a lifetime event or even something on our "bucket list". Flying in a helicopter (and actually steering it for a few moments) as a 7 year old was an experiential version of amazing that one of my students shared.
We also decided that for "How do you know when you've seen or done something amazing" that you might have to go outside of your house/country to experience one of these amazing events. One student just returned from vacation in Dubai and saw the world's tallest building, The Burj Khalifa.
We also decided that for "How do you know when you've seen or done something amazing" that you might have to go outside of your house/country to experience one of these amazing events. One student just returned from vacation in Dubai and saw the world's tallest building, The Burj Khalifa.
On the same trip he then went on the world's fastest roller coaster, travelling 240 km/h. For a 12 year old boy, I'm pretty sure that qualifies as amazing.
All of this was leading up to my point where I then shared some pictures of me in front of the Great Pyramids of Giza from when I travelled there in 2001 with my sister and Mrs. Rollins. As a class, we are about to lead into an exploration of Egypt and my goal was to get the students to actually think about the different levels that something might be "amazing" on. While that youtube clip of the day might be "cool" it might not be as neat as some of the things we can actually get out and see or do. I think they realized what something needed to be in order to qualify as "amazing" and we'll see how interested they will be in some of the "amazing" artifacts/monuments of ancient Egypt when we get to look at them. I think "amazing is in the eye of the beholder" but for me, seeing these certainly "made the grade for me":
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