Welcome back

 

I was eating lunch with a couple of friends I had not seen in a long time. After about 10 minutes of conversation, one of my friends asked me when I was going to retire. At my age, I get that question often, but I am never ready to respond.

This past year was one of my favorite years of teaching.  I had some students who struggled at the start of the year but kept coming for help. What impressed me most about these guys: Even when they did not show improvement in their grades, they continued to work hard. It is easy to be gritty when things are going well, but it truly shows your character when you keep working hard without immediate results.

On the other side of the ledger, it was awesome to see some of my strongest students work hard to explain complex problems to their classmates. What was great was that these student work groups helped everyone improve. At the end of the year, we ended up with one of the strongest groups of students in my teaching career.

This summer, I spent time talking with some of the best educators I know. When I left these conversations, I was excited to implement these ideas into my classroom this year. What I love about teaching is that you are on a continuous journey to improve.

With the above in mind, I have never been more excited to be a teacher. The start of each year brings on new challenges, new students, and a fresh start. It is great to wake up every morning and love going to work.

PS. This year's students are off to an amazing start.

Accountability without blame

 Blaming and shaming are often used to hold people accountable for their actions. But while these tools may be effective in the moment, they do more harm than good in the long run.  The problem is that many people see the short-term impact, and that encourages them to continue shaming people. Blaming and shaming individuals for their mistakes creates a culture of fear, where people become more focused on avoiding blame than on learning from their mistakes. 

When people are afraid of being blamed for their mistakes, they are less likely to admit to them. Instead, they may try to cover up their errors or shift the blame to someone else. This not only perpetuates the problem but also creates a culture of mistrust where individuals are less likely to work together and collaborate effectively. This also tends to stifle risk-taking. 

I wonder if, as an educational system, we promote learning from our mistakes—or do students fear making mistakes?  This fear can feed anxiety in students.  As educators, we need to truly focus on the learning part of our students’ errors. 

In conclusion, the stick may seem like an effective tool to hold people accountable for their actions. However, they do more harm than good. When people fear making mistakes, it hinders their growth.  Instead, schools need to build a culture of accountability, where students and teachers feel safe admitting mistakes and learning from them without fear of retribution.  This will lead to a more productive environment. 

How to redo your goals

 

As a teacher, I often hear students say that they do not like to learn, that this class is too difficult. But I have watched my own children play video games, and I see them learn and struggle without complaint.  One of the things that video games seem to do is hook kids with new chances to apply what they learned.  They might have been killed in the game, but they can start over and apply the new knowledge.

I was therefore fascinated when I read about research done by a University of Pennsylvania professor on emergency reserves.  Emergency reserves are a way to give yourself a redo on a goal and start fresh again.

You may have heard that setting difficult goals helps you accomplish more than if you set easy ones.  A struggling student may set a goal to study economics 20 minutes a week, which is probably easy to do.  The problem is that even if they hit that goal, it might not be enough to truly learn the material.  A more difficult goal would be to study 20 minutes a night.

What sometimes happens in trying to reach difficult goals is that things get in the way.  You might have sports practice or might not feel well one night.  When this happens you might think that a goal is impossible, so you stop studying altogether.

That’s when you want to use your emergency reserve.  If you give yourself one emergency reserve a week, then when something inevitably comes up, you can use your emergency reserve and continue to hit your goal.  The researchers found that not only did people perform better when they had emergency reserves, but they often did not even use them.

When setting difficult goals in the future, make sure to give yourself an emergency reserve.  It will allow you to be more productive. After all, we can all use a free redo once in a while

Happiness tips from Finland

 Recently, my work community faced tragedy.  In times of need, you can truly see people pull together.  Our community has been kind, generous, and caring during this time—which made me think, how do we hold on to these positive attributes longer? 

I turned to the country of Finland, which is one of the top-ranked countries in the United Nations World Happiness report.  The three categories that seem to stand out among the Finns are: 

1. Low social comparison 

2. Honesty and trust 

3. Time spent in nature 

4. 
   

The low social comparison struck a chord with me.  The first thing many of my students do when I return a test is to ask other students how they did on it.  No matter how I try to discourage this behavior, the students cannot help themselves. 

Honesty (more about honesty) and trust are a hallmark of Finland.  When psychologists left wallets on busy streets in Finland, 90% were returned to their owners.  Trust is built on small behaviors like these, and when you have a very honest community, trust is easy to build. 

The Finns also like to spend their vacation time in cabins in remote places.  Many of these cabins lack electricity, which promotes going to sleep when it gets dark and waking up with the sun.  Besides supporting good sleep habits (do not underrate sleep), spending time in nature also provides a calmness that is good for both your physical and mental health. 

The challenge for all of us is to stop comparing ourselves to each other.  When we do have success, keep it low-key.  Secondly, be mindful of situations that build trust.  Finally, while we might not be able to go to remote places, we can unplug ourselves from our electronics for a weekend. 

As always, I would love to hear your feedback. 

Hidden secrets to success

 

After the Super Bowl, I heard many football fans and analysts talk about the natural-born talent of Patrick Mahomes. While many of the top-rated quarterbacks are talented, fans often overlook the hidden factors that make the players successful. The fan only sees the final product, not what goes into making the person so successful.

I once watched a video of Tom Brady practicing in the off-season. His favorite phrase was “run it again.” Brady was persistent: He would continue to practice a play until it was perfect. He realized that fractions of a second might determine the difference between a touchdown and an interception.

Extraordinarily successful people also make great sacrifices to hone their craft. In the case of great athletes, they do not truly have an off-season. They are constantly working year-round to correct their weaknesses and continue to enhance their strengths.

Also, high achievers are persistent. While they have disappointments like the rest of us, they bounce back. Last year, Mahomes faced the disappointment of losing in the AFC Championship. He learned from that failure and this year delivered a different result.

Some people make it look so easy that you think it comes naturally to them. Just remember that these people have sacrificed, learned from failure, and overcome disappointments.

College acceptance

 

One of my students felt discouraged when he was rejected from several selective colleges this year.  My first comment to him was that he should not take it personally.  Truthfully, he did all he could academically and with extracurriculars. Sometimes, it comes down to whether the school needs a student from the East or West coast.

I also told him that the college experience is more about the student than the school.  Every college offers you the chance to explore your passion—the four-year experience is what the individual student makes of it.

I have students get rejected from their first choice and have a great four years at their second or third choice. When you think about your dream school, ask yourself these questions: How many times have you been on the campus?  How many classes have you attended there?  It is almost like thinking that you will get married after just one date.

When I reflect on the many former students who had great experiences at their second- or third-choice schools, I realize that they were determined to get the most out of college in the same way they made the most out of high school.

The challenge that students face is not to take the rejection personally.  Also, do not compare yourself to other students who might have been accepted to a school from which you were rejected. The acceptance decision is something that only makes sense to the admissions officers.

Just say No

 

In school, I see some students joining as many activities as possible to boost their resume for college applications.  They are taking more AP classes than ever before and always pushing for the highest grade.  What worries me about these students: Will they ever be content?  Or will they always be on a treadmill, never taking the time to enjoy their accomplishments?

This summer, the Ravens’ quarterback Lamar Jackson was negotiating his contract.  While the billionaire owner was negotiating with a millionaire player, I wondered, how much money did either party need to live a good life?  How many accomplishments do you need to feel fulfilled?  How many awards do you need to make yourself happy? 

More is not always better.  As a matter of fact, I might argue most times it is not.  This summer, I reflected upon why I became a teacher.  In answering that for myself, I developed a list of questions I now ask myself before I say yes to any request:

1.      Is what is being asked of me aligned with my values and why I became a teacher?  If the answer is no, I respond “no” to the ask.

2.      Will what is being asked of me make me happy?  There are times I might do something that just brings me joy. 

3.      Will what is being asked of me make me a better husband, father, teacher, or colleague?  I still enjoy growing in all of these areas.

The challenge is that we often feel guilty when we say “no”.  The truth is that when you learn to say “no,” you do the things that are important to you better.  “No” might be the answer to improving mental health for all of us.

As always, your feedback is appreciated.