Choosing your attitude

As the school year is set to begin, many teachers and administrators have been rejuvenated over the summer.  They have rediscovered their inner passion and remember why they joined this great profession.

Those in education can identify a cycle that takes place with teachers: School year begins and excitement is high, then comes mid-year and that excitement begins to wain. Then look out because here comes a time  late in the school year and that excitement morphs in to cynicism.

By way of full disclosure, I must admit that I have fallen into the this quagmire myself.  Each summer I take time to reflect on what my successes were, but more importantly to me than those successes are my failures.  I am a firm believer that failure is essential to growth and even more essential to success.  If we are satisfied with resting on good enough, then greatness, is a phenomenon that we will never experience.  One my favorite quotes is:  "Failure isn't fatal, but failure to change might be" -- John Wooden

So how did the process of reflection lead to a blog about 'Choosing your attitude'?  Experiencing excitement is a choice.  Experiencing cynicism is also a choice.  When people are excited, they are focused on the potential of what could be.  When people are cynics, they are focused on what isn't.  

This year, I am challenging my co-workers to remain centered on the first of those 'What could be'.  I am also challenging my co-workers to hold me accountable to this and keep me focused on it as well.  My hope is, to do my part, to create an environment that is as conducive to student success.  We owe it to our kids to not let our choice of attitude negatively affect our students.  

I recently read a blog by @PernilleRipp that she posted to twitter.  The blog was spot on with what I have been thinking.  Click here to read her blog on "A letter to those who are new...Myself included'  She pointed out the importance of being fearless, setting goals, and most importantly not losing yourself in the job.  If you read nothing else between now and when school begins, I suggest that post to give you a lift before school starts.  

Another resource I just love is to utilize is to watch the Kid President videos on YouTube.  If you have not checked them out I highly recommend it.  Here is one of my favorites:

So here is to staying motivated and positive this coming year and changing what I failed at the in past...all while focusing on what could be with a positive attitude and actions.

Follow me on twitter @CHS_Mr_F

The Power of Do -- Living your life in Beta

As the school year is just around the corner I am recommitting myself to blogging about my experiences in a school going through a transformational time.  This post (and probably those to follow) will be different from my past posts, less refined but hopefully more authentic.  In the past I wrote many blog, but left them unpublished because I just didn't feel there were real world ready.  Well, this summer I was bludgeoned by the obvious reason why I need to change self imposed restriction to sharing.

Once again this summer, I had the wonderful opportunity to attend ISTE 2014 international conference and the Great Plains Google Summit.  Just as expected, they were just what the doctor in terms of re-energizing me and reminding me of just what we need to move our educational systems from 'good enough' to 'the best it can be'.

During the ISTE 2014 conference I had the opportunity to listen to Phil Hansen (@Philinthecircle) talk about 'Embracing the Shake'  If you do nothing else after reading this blog, then watch this TED talk about discovering your true limits.  He posits that 'In order to limitless, we must first be limited'.  How can each of us Embrace Our Shake to make the classes and schools we work in be the best they can be for students.


http://youtu.be/YrZTho_o_is


The keynotes at these sessions all spoke of the importance of letting go of our fear of failure.  As educators we tend to be a conservative bunch.  By nature we want to succeed and help others succeed.  However, stop to consider the fact the in the real world, failure is where we learn the most impactful lessons.  Check out this video from the Google Summit Keynote Speaker Jia Jiang (@Jia Jiang)


http://youtu.be/ZFWyseydTkQ

Rejection and failure are what shape us to better next time.  We need to live our life in Beta mode.  We need to model for students that it is ok to fail so long as we evaluate our venture and do better next time.  Education has been a cumbersome beast when it comes to change and moving in the way the real world does.  (Remember we educators are conservative by nature).  So many times we rob the world of our gifts because we fear failure.  So many times we limit opportunities for students because we fear our inability to provide the perfect experience for them.  It is time we stop allowing our own fear as educators be the limiting factor for our students.