Author: Bret Olson

Make it a Great Day

Bret Olson2 Comments

Make it a great day…I’ve certainly received a lot of comments about that phrase over the years!  I started using this as a way to close my emails a little more than five years ago, shortly after my father started using it.  I’m not 100% sure where he originally came across the idea but I know it came out of some research he had been doing about positive mindsets.  I spoke with him about it at length and eventually asked for permission to use it myself, I love it.

To me the mindset change from the usual “have a great day” to actually “making” it great is really a life-changing shift. The more conventional version is a nice sounding idea, I mean who wouldn’t like to ‘have’ a great day?!?  However, the problem here is that merely “having” a great day is a passive act, it implies that the person involved really has no control; we might as well say “good luck with your day!”  BUT, if we change this just ever so slightly the implication becomes a mindset shift of epic proportions.  “Make it a great day” implies that this day is yours for the taking, you can make it whatever you’d like.  How you approach each situation, each interaction, will impact how your day goes.  You don’t need to sit back and cross your fingers that today is going to be great, you can go out and take control of the day and make it great!

Not only can you influence how your day is going to go based on how you approach it but you can very easily change the direction of anyone’s (especially a student’s) day with the way you approach them. There is lots of research that shows that students who receive more positive interactions throughout the day do better in everything.  They show increased academic results, better decision making ability, less behavior problems, more positive interactions with their peers, higher self-worth, and an overall higher level of happiness.  It’s amazing how much of an impact one person can have on those around them, especially if it is a teacher in a classroom full of middle school students!!

We have an extremely positive atmosphere here at SCIS and you (our teachers) play a HUGE part in that.  A few weeks ago I attached a video about the Science of Happiness and a number of you wrote to me with some great feedback.  This week I’ll attach a couple good articles about the impact of positive interactions with students that include some great examples of how to build those relationships.

http://www.jongordon.com/blog/the-power-of-positive-interactions/

http://www.interventioncentral.org/behavioral-interventions/motivation/motivation-challenge-6-student-lacks-positive-relationship-teach

http://www.ascd.org/publications/books/105124/chapters/Developing_Positive_Teacher-Student_Relations.aspx

Enjoy your weekend and of course…

Make it a great day,

Bret Olson

Sharpen Your Saw

Bret Olson2 Comments

Both of my sisters are educators in America and they’ve just finished their first four days of school, having started on Tuesday, and I’m seeing/hearing lot’s of rejoicing to have reached their first weekend.  For us it’s a different story, we’ve been back almost a month now!  So, I want to say congratulations and more importantly, “thank you!”, to everyone for a great start to the school year.  We’ve settled in and the students are off and running, it’s a great atmosphere around campus.

We’ve all been going a million miles an hour since we started back in the beginning of August.  Many of you have been into work early and stayed late every day since we’ve been back.  You’ve been working extremely hard to help prepare yourselves and your students for a wonderfully successful school year.  I know your students won’t say it, so I will say it on their behalf, THANK YOU!!!

Now, something else your students won’t say to you…make sure you stay balanced.  If you’re anything like me, then you’ve gotten yourself a little off balance in the last few weeks.  Stephen Covey, author of Seven Habits of Highly Effective People includes in his habits what he calls “sharpening the saw”.  In short, the idea behind this is that if you work yourself so hard that your ‘saw’ becomes dull than you will become an ineffective teacher for your students.  It is crucial to keep yourself fresh, healthy, and energized in order to be successful with your students.

So for those of you who are like me and have become a little too committed at the beginning of the school year please take this message to heart.  This three-day weekend couldn’t be coming at a better time, take advantage of it and find a way to sharpen your saw.  It’s a great opportunity to get out of town (even for one night), start that work out program you’ve been putting off, cook a nice home-cooked meal, or have a lazy Saturday…do whatever you need to relax a bit and refresh yourself.

Thank you for all that you’ve done to make this beginning of the school year a successful one for all of your students.  Enjoy your much deserved weekend!

How Do You Define Success?

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We’ve had a very successful start to the school year and that is what I want to encourage you to think about today, success.  Take a second to stop and ask yourself one question, “what is my definition of success?”  Seriously, stop and think about that for a minute or two…

Okay, now that you’ve taken a second to think about your definition I want you to consider all the other potential definitions of success that are out there.  Think about what a successful school year would look like for the students in your classroom.  I am confident that for all of you there is already a pretty clear vision of what a successful year in your class will look like for your students.  After all, you’ve planned collaboratively, considered what’s most important, created unit plans, designed labs, and done all sorts of other work to make sure that your students will have a successful year with you.

However, as seems to be more and more of a common theme for me, I want you to consider yourself.  What would a successful year look like for you as a teacher?  It’s important to reflect on your teaching practices and your professional experiences.  Think about areas where YOUR growth could lead to even more opportunity for success with your students.

This past summer I took a course through the Principal’s Training Center (PTC) called “Instructional Supervision and Evaluation” because, as I’ve shared with everyone already, this is my main focus for growth as a professional this school year.  It was an amazing opportunity to learn and collaborate with some of the international leaders in this area and I couldn’t have asked for more.  On top of that we have Kim Marshall coming in to work with the Leadership Team and I couldn’t be more excited to have such an amazing opportunity to grow and learn in this area.

As you continue on the path of excellence that you are all heading down already, what could help you grow as a teacher?  For some of you this process of self-reflection is old hat but for others this will be a new opportunity.  Embrace the chance to grow and improve every single day.  Think big and think small, set goals for the year and make every day better than the last!

A reminder of some of the PD resources available to you in this area:

·      EARCOS Weekend Workshops

·      ACAMIS

·      Sanguine Consulting

·      Chapters International

·      Scholastic U

·      Dragonfly Training

·      Knowledge Source Institute

·      Association of Middle Level Education

A good video to make you think about your definition of success:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ulShj4keKNw (VPN needed)

A Wonderful Start to the Year

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Over the last seven days with students I can’t begin to describe the overwhelming feeling of positivity around here!! Everyone from teachers to students, and even parents, are just brimming with positive vibes and attitudes.  The beginning of the school year is a busy and stressful time but I can honestly say that this has been the best overall start to a school year that I’ve experienced in a long time.  With as many new faces as we have amongst our colleagues and students it’s always a bit of a scramble.  However, every single person here has put their heart into this community and it shows on the faces of our students.

Yesterday was the new parent orientation hosted by PAFA and I had the pleasure of chatting with parents almost all day long.  Every person I talked to couldn’t stop singing the praises of our staff and community.  New parents were nearly tearing up when they talked about how happy their students are at our school.  Stories about kids coming home on day one and glowing with excitement about their teachers makes my heart swell.  We have a wonderful thing going here and everyone can see it.

The most beautiful part of all these happy stories is that we’ve only just begun.  These are the boring days in my mind, going over class expectations, safety, etc.  Just wait until the real learning begins and the kids are engaged in amazing lessons, labs, and performances!!  I truly believe that with each year that has passed the kids at our school have become more engaged and excited about learning.  The curiosity and genuine interest in school is fueled by the passion for education that you, as teachers, bring to the classroom…never before has it been at a higher level than it is today.

I just want to say a huge thank you to all of you for the hard work that you’ve put in to making this start of the year so amazing.  I know it has taken a lot of energy and effort to be this wonderful and it is appreciated by everyone.  I wish you would’ve been able to hear all of the positive comments yesterday from parents, the work you’ve done to welcome these students to our school is outstanding!

Thank you every one, have a great weekend and a much deserved rest!!

Awesome video about the Science of Happiness (VPN needed) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M4ALRY5LyBM

A great story about the difference we can all make (VPN again)  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=chjHPSLapv8

Your Opportunity is Now

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Tomorrow is new family orientation and it will be the first day that we’ll officially have kids on campus, so exciting! I know we’ve been back to business for almost a week now but the time seems to have flown by as we’ve hit the ground running and we’re ready for a new year. The sheer amount of opportunities we have before us this school year is tremendous and it sets my mind racing just to think about it. Whether you’re new to teaching, new to SCIS, or you’ve been here long enough to be considered a Golden Dragon the opportunities for you are incredible.

Those of you who are just getting started in your time at SCIS come from a variety of backgrounds; some of you are veteran international schoolteachers and others are just embarking on what could be a lifetime in this small world that we call the international education community. Some of you have been around the world and will be making your first stay in Asia; enjoy it, explore it, and take in all that this amazing place has to offer. For those who are entering this nomadic life for the first time, welcome, you may never look back!

As new students and families begin to arrive over the next few days we all have the opportunity to make a first impression. The smiles and excited conversations we have with these new students will set the tone and help them feel at ease as they make a the transition into our community. A lot of times it’s the first happy face through the door that these kids remember ten years down the road; the person who helped them find their math class or who carried their uniform bag when the handles broke. It’s these small and seemingly mundane moments that often times define a student’s first, and lasting, memories of their new school. What an opportunity we have over the next few days!!

Our returning students will surely return with a mixture of emotions as well; some will be excited and others longing for the beach where they spent the summer. Opportunity lies within these students too. Seeing former teachers, meeting the new, and walking the halls where they’ve had so many great memories with their friends is sure to be exciting for our returning students. However, with those happy moments, come the not-so-happy memories of best friends and favorite teachers who’ve moved on to new schools and exciting adventures. The opportunity is yours to be their new inspiration, welcome them back and make them feel like they never want to leave again. Those smiles we see every morning as students get off the bus aren’t there because they love 7:30 AM, they happen because our students truly enjoy coming to SCIS each morning! Start building and strengthening your connections now and embrace the opportunity to inspire our students every single day.

Being our best every day for our kids and embracing the short-term opportunities before us will continue to make this the warm and welcoming school we’ve become. Let’s not forget about what I see as our greatest opportunity…the chance to reflect and continue down the growth process with two new leaders. As the year commences we begin down a long, and potentially winding, path toward the future. Over the last four years this Middle School has become a special place but the opportunity we have now is to push our school and ourselves forward to be even better. Challenge yourself to be better every day you wake up, every day you enter the classroom with students, every day you work with your colleagues; challenge yourself to be better, make it the best day yet, each and every day! Take the opportunity to be amazing!!

 

To the Virgins, To Make Much of Time

by Robert Herrick

Gather ye rosebuds while ye may,

Old time is still a-flying;

And this same flower that smiles today

Tomorrow will be dying.

The glorious lamp of heaven the sun,

The higher he’s a-getting,

The sooner will his race be run,

And nearer he’s to setting.

That age is best which is the first,

When youth and blood are warmer;

But being spent, the worse, and worst

Times still succeed the former.

Then be not coy, but use your time,

And, while ye may, go marry;

For, having lost but once your prime,

You may forever tarry.

Mr. John Keating – Dead Poets Society – encourages you to seize the day!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=veYR3ZC9wMQ (VPN required)

You’re Amazing, Thank you!

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This is the last Two Cents for the 2013-14 School Year and, honestly, I’m very emotional writing this.  We have some of the most amazing and outstanding teachers I ever ever encountered and at it makes me a bit sad to know that we are heading off for the summer and not everyone will be coming back in the fall.  Those of you who are moving on to different places in the world, sabbaticals, or where ever you may go next…you’ll be missed around here!  I’ve been in four schools so far and I’ve never come close to having a staff that has been this tight, happy, and just a pleasure to be around.  Add all of that to the amazing educational minds that have managed to come together in this middle school and you’ve got one heck of an awesome group of middle school people.

The sign on my computer today is “Be Grateful” and it couldn’t have come at a better time, honestly.  I didn’t have anything particular in my mind when I made that sign this morning but now that I’ve gone through a couple hours of the day I feel like that is a message that more people in our community need to hear!  The time, effort, and emotion that you put into the kids at our school is incredible.  Unfortunately, I don’t think everyone involved really understands what you give for these kids on a daily basis…even those very kids who you work so hard to take care of aren’t aware of all the time and energy you have given to them.  Some of their parents aren’t even aware of what you do for their kids day in and day out.  So, here I am, I’m saying a HUGE ‘thank you’ from all of those kids who you pour blood, sweat, and tears for every single day!  And guess what, yup I’m going to do it even though they’re adults and should do it themselves…On behalf of all those parents too, ‘Thank you for taking such great care of my kid and giving over so much of your efforts to helping them become successful young adults!!!’

So I’m sad that this amazing team is losing some of it’s members and I’m grateful for all that you do for our kids but I’m also extremely happy and excited!  The experience of working with each and every one of you over these last few years has been absolutely amazing.  I can’t say enough about the tremendous work that has been done in this middle school the last few years and it was truly and honestly a 100% team effort.  The culture we’ve built here and the amazing work we’ve done with the curriculum, in no way, could’ve been done without your hard work and dedication!  Literally, there hasn’t been a day yet in this job where I didn’t want to come to work.  Sure there have been some days when I wished I could sleep a little longer but the prospect of coming to SCIS and seeing the amazing staff and students that we have has never once bothered me.  You are all inspiring educators and having the chance to work with you has been mind-blowing.

Now, all of that being said I am excited too.  I’m excited about the fact that, while we’re losing some people, we are still returning an amazing team of teachers next year.  The group that we have coming back includes a huge number of curriculum heads who have been crucial in driving our program forward, it includes grade level leaders, and it includes happy, hard-working teachers.  The end of this school year has been busier than any I’ve ever experienced…with all the parties and celebrations I can barely find a spare moment!  That speaks volumes about the connections and bonds that we’ve established at this school.  We enjoy working with our friends and we enjoy being friends with our colleagues, you can’t say that about too many work places in the world!

This has been a tremendous school year…let me finish by saying ‘thank you’, not from the kids or their parents but from me.  Thank you for all that you do for our kids.  Thank you for all that you do for your colleagues.  Thank you for being positive, supporting our students and each other, and thank you for being so awesome in general.  Dan and I often tell new families and people we interview that we have the best middle school in Shanghai; there is no doubt about that in my mind and just based on how awesome all of our teachers are, I would put us up against any middle school in the world!  Those are my two cents (more like 10 cents) for the last time this year…thank you for being so awesome and have a great summer 🙂

Taking Attendance of Ourselves

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Throughout the year, at various points, we have struggled with certain students because of their sporadic attendance in class.  It’s hard enough for our kids when they are in class every day and even more difficult for our students to keep up if they aren’t present in the moment.  This challenge is frustrating and leads to inconsistencies, sometimes it leads to kids falling behind and struggling to catch up.  As the end of the year nears, a lot of our kids are looking ahead to summer; it’s so close they can almost touch it.  Some of our students are already mentally on vacation – and it’s frustrating!  As the year comes to an end the schedule gets crazy, the kids go wild, and things heat up as fast as the temperature rises.  This is the time of year when our focus needs to be at it’s highest; we can’t afford to mentally go on vacation early.

To be honest, my inspiration for writing this today isn’t derived from any of our teachers failings, because as far as I’ve seen, everyone still has their nose to the grindstone and are continuing to motivate our students to run hard to the end.  In fact, I’m inspired by the fact that teachers are still coming to me about student concerns even though we have only 5 academic days left with our kids.  It is refreshing to know that just because we’ve booked our summer plans and started to think about fun in the sun, we’re still working hard for our students.  As we close things out during the next couple weeks don’t forget to remain in the present and enjoy your last few weeks.  Many colleagues will be moving on after this school year finishes and the same is true for our students.  Remain in the present, summer will be here soon enough and you’ll be happy to have enjoyed your last days of the school year.  The end of the year can be busy and stressful; take attendance of yourself and make sure you’re present.  Like the sign on my computer today says, “Think happy, be happy!”

Gratitude’s Exponential Powers

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Last week I wrote about character strengths and practicing what we preach.  If you completed the self-assessment you saw that “gratitude” is one of the 24 character strengths measured and is, in fact, important to becoming a successful person.  In one of the studies included with the Coursera.com course I am taking it is suggested that gratitude could be, in fact, a malleable skill.  So what does that mean, what if we can actually learn gratitude?  Well, some of the activities included in the course are designed to help do just that:  reflecting on three good things that happened each day and why, reflecting on things you are grateful for at the end of each week, explaining why when you say ‘thank you’ to someone (i.e. Thank you for buying me that coffee, that really makes me feel appreciated!), and perhaps most impactful of all is writing a gratitude letter to someone and reading it to them out loud.  All of these activities are designed to help you understand the reasons you are grateful as well as help you express your gratitude in a way that allows others to feel even better about themselves.

We have been talking a lot with the kids recently about ‘saying what they need to say’ to their friends and teachers before the school year is over.  Isn’t this another case of practicing what we preach?  How have you shown gratitude to those around you recently?  Think about the impact you are having not only on those people but on yourself.  The attached research article is a bit dry (as research articles can be) but some of it’s findings are very interesting:  Gratitude and positive emotions can help ‘sharpen the saw’, as Stephen Covey calls it, and provide emotional resources for us to draw on when we’re down or having a bad stretch.   Gratitude helps to build and strengthen bonds with other people (students, colleagues, acquaintances, etc.)  Gratitude can help us deal with stress and adversity.  My favorite of all, “Gratitude inspires prosocial reciprocity.”

So how do you show gratitude?  Could you do more to improve all of these things in your life just by changing the way you show gratitude?  Give it a shot for a few days and I’d recommend keeping some kind of a log to track how people respond to your signs of gratitude.  As always, I’d love to hear your two cents 🙂

 

Practicing What We Preach

Bret Olson1 Comment

I’ve always been a huge proponent of explicitly teaching character strengths but that takes dedicated and specific time.  In the absence of a specific program for teaching character there are still many ways to ‘teach’ our students how to develop their character strengths.  One of the best ways is by modeling, by living the message.  Currently I am taking a GREAT online course called “Teaching Character and Creating Positive Classrooms” via Relay/GSE and Coursera.com.  It is only a four week class and I’m half way through, it doesn’t take too much time…if you’re interested in giving it a shot follow this link to sign up.

One of the very first lessons requires you to take two sorts of self-assessment.  The first part tasks you with considering 24 character strengths and ranking them in order of importance for student success.  Follow this link to the document from the Relay/GSE that is used for doing this so you can give it a try.  The second part is an online self-assessment that asks you 120 questions (it takes about 10 minutes) and then gives you feedback about the order in which you actually live out the 24 character strengths.  This VIA Survey requires you to sign up but it is free and they don’t send you annoying emails (interestingly enough I signed up 9 years ago and took this test and received nothing from them, it was also really cool to see how I’ve changed over time!)

So, give it a shot.  Go through both parts of this (it will take about 20 minutes) and see what your results look like.  Are you actually practicing what you preach or are there areas where you talk-the-talk more than walk-the-walk?  I’m happy to share my results (from now and 9 years ago!) if you’re keen to see.  Let me know once you’ve completed this, I’d love to hear your two cents!!

“Children have never been very good at listening to their elders, but they have never failed to imitate them.”  – James Baldwin

Finishing the Year on a Strong Note

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As the year quickly comes to a close we’ve begun to see some of our students falling into a “senior slump” of sorts; more students than usual are not completing homework, usually strong students are slipping, and they are showing signs of overall decreased motivation for school. So what can be done? I think the first, and most important thing, is to talk about this situation with kids, let them into the conversation. Then you need to model good strategies and share your experiences with your students. There’s a great quote by James A. Baldwin, “Children have never been very good at listening to their elders, but they have never failed to imitate them.”

Try these strategies to finish out YOUR school year on a solid note and share your efforts and results with your kids, set a positive example for them to follow!

1. Plan and Budget Time: Our kids are terrible at this and, for many of us, this time of year and all that comes with it makes it hard for us to balance our time as well. Show your kids how you budget your time. Do you use a calendar? Something on the fridge at home?

2. Focus on successes/Stay positive: Celebrate successes with your students and let them know that school is still important by emphasizing positive moments. Focusing on the negatives will only serve to drive kids further into the “Isn’t it summer yet?!?” attitude. Remember to stay positive yourself; counting down days until summer sends the message to your students that you can’t wait to get rid of them.

3. Prioritize: There are lots of things that happen at the end of the school year. Focus first on the most important tasks and then enjoy the celebrations and nice weather! Make a “to do” list and celebrate as you cross things off; a completed daily list is a great reason to feel good at the end of a long day 🙂

4. Avoid procrastination tools: Facebook, that TV show you never really watch unless there is something important to do, etc. They’re all used as tools to distract us from completing the important work that we know we have to do. Banish those things from your life (temporarily) to create an optimal working environment.

5. Take care of yourself: Exercise, eat well, and find ways to de-stress. Go get a massage over the weekend, go for a walk, and enjoy your free time so that you can be your best self for your kids.