At the start of 2014 I watched a clip about Lollypops for Leadership by the inspiring Drew Dudley – another mint TED talk. Drew has a thought provoking approach to leadership – leadership is about changing the lives of people around us in the everyday lives of people. Excellent! We often put leadership into a box for certain people – but it is for all of us.
So what?
As teachers, we all experience hard days when we all get caught up in the not so great things. It happens to us all and it is an important part of coping – being able to debrief, rant and rave. I decided that, yes, we need to talk about those hard times but we also need to acknowledge and think about the things that happen in our day and life that make our life better at that time.
So, in our staffroom I made a post it comment wall for us all to jot down the neat things that happen in our classes that fundamentally make our lives better at that time. It’s not a competition, there is not a tally or standard that each post it comment must meet. It is a way of acknowledging the neat things that happen and sharing with each other.
I have found that when I have a ‘bad’ session in class; something ‘neat’ can happen that will unequivolently make my day better. A student that keeps ‘forgetting’ to raise her hand dramatically puts her hand up before speaking and waits. Just made my life better and buoys me for the rest of the day. These moments need to be acknowledged and celebrated.
A by product, and not the intended outcome, is the positive conversations that arise when you read a comment and seek out the author to celebrate and marvel. During lunch I read,
Mrs B you have lost your talk. Miss 5 yr old – 1 term
What entailed was a conversation about the sweetness and cuteness of this gem and the further inclusion of 4 other staff members in the conversation.
Be The Teacher 