One Important Question That Leads to Student Empowerment in Schools

Leave a Comment

I walked into Jasper Place High School in Edmonton, Alberta, as a basketball referee for the game, but as a principal at another school at the time.  Every time I walked into that building I was amazed not only by the enthusiasm and pride of the students for their school but how amazing the work was on the walls. I remember asking one of the teachers from the school which company did the artwork and photography displayed across the school. He laughed and said, “A company doesn’t do the artwork. The students do.”

I was blown away.

If you would have told me a professional marketing company was doing the work on the walls, I would have believed you. I then started to connect that the pride that I saw in the students for the school was because they WERE the school. They saw their work and art in every facet of the building. To empower students, ownership of not only the product, but the process is crucial.

I was reminded of this as I was talking to a friend who had shared a fantastic school they had went to, and they shared how much of what they saw in the school was done and created by the students. If you want to empower students, this is a really simple question to ask when taking on anything:

Could the students be doing this?

The best assemblies I have ever seen were led by students.

The best introductions I have ever received as a speaker were written and presented by students.

The best artwork and photography I have seen in schools was done by students.

I am biased toward work that is done by students, but I would rather see the imperfect work of a student than the perfect work of a staff member. Not only does this lead to more pride and ownership of the school but it also leads to real life opportunities now that can lead to opportunities in the future. For example, Burlington High School in Massachusetts has a student-led genius bar.  Less work for adults and more meaningful learning for students.

My friends AJ Juliani and John Spencer always share this idea:

What are you doing for students that they can be doing for themselves?

It is such a simple idea but a powerful one.  We talk about preparing our students for the opportunities in the future, but there is no time like the present to create this within our schools.

Asking Questions to Find Better Answers

Leave a Comment

In my book, “The Innovator’s Mindset,” I wrote about the importance of asking questions to challenge thinking:

As we consider what’s best for each learner, we must also think about how what we’re teaching will impact his or her future. For example, one question I have asked many educators is, “In our world today, what is a student more likely going to need to be able to write: an essay or a blog post?” This question pushes some people to a place of discomfort (which is the point), but it also makes them think about what’s relevant to today’s educational needs. It isn’t an either/or question. It is a question designed to make us think about why we do what we do. We need to ask more questions to provoke this type of thinking in education.

I have asked people this question, and sometimes, reluctantly, they say, “blog.” I encourage them NOT to say what they think I want to hear but to share what they believe and why they believe. Once that is made clear, they will often say, “both” and give reasons why each has a place to further learning for our students.  If I hear that, I will then ask, “Do you teach both?” and often the answer is “no” but you see the lightbulb go on and a shift in thinking occurs.  That is the hope in asking the question.

Or I could do this, “You need to teach blogging because of reason A, B, and C, but you only teach essays and kids are losing out on opportunities because of this.”  What is the long-term impact of making this statement as opposed to provoking thought with a question?

  1. They are mad about the seeming attack on what they are currently doing but change nothing.
  2. They see the challenge and may change their practice but with reluctance and guilt of not being good enough.

In either scenario, there is no real ownership and actually may do more to create short-term gain but with long-term damage to a relationship.

But when I ask a question, understand that the person answering is not the only one who has the opportunity to learn from the response.  I have listened to educators share reasons why the essay is way more important for their students because of specific goals that were unique to their communities, and within their answers, I was provided a perspective that I did not have access to by simply making a statement.  Both parties benefit when we ask questions to challenge thinking and then genuinely listen to the answer.

I have noticed this comment lately of “Pinterest-Perfect” classrooms, suggesting that some teachers are creating classroom environments that are more for Instagram than they are for the learners in their classroom, to gain fake Internet points.  I get the concern, but I have also seen complaints about classrooms that were too dreary, while other classrooms were too bright, creating this Goldilocks scenario that many educators feel they will never get “just right.”

With all this being said, I am not an expert on learning spaces, which is all the more reason to ask the question in the first place.  Instead of making a “Pinterest-Perfect” comment, what benefit would it be to ask something along the lines of,

“I notice there are lots of different things happening in the environment of your classroom. Can you share some ways this is benefitting your learners? I would love to learn more.”

It might not be the best way to ask a question, but what this recognizes is that not one thing works for all students and that there is a keen interest to learn instead of an enthusiastic opportunity to show all that you know. Understand that what works for one student or a group of students doesn’t mean it can be carbon copied for others. Knowing your students is crucial, and I have shared this sentiment before on Twitter:

In asking the question though, the respondent benefits by digging deeper into their practice while reflecting on what benefits the students, while the person asking benefits from listening and reflecting.  Growth is more likely to happen for both people in this scenario if the interaction is genuine.

This is not about the “Pinterest-Perfect” classroom at all. The focus of this post is to focus on asking questions to generate growth for all parties. I have been guilty of making statements to provoke thinking, and I am not against it and think there are scenarios where it has an impact to “jolt” thinking. But I am trying to ask more questions and assume less in my answers.  Things like, “You need to share more!” quickly turning into “You share too much!” leaves educators feeling undervalued by other educators in both scenarios.

If we are open to challenging through questions that are authentic and not meant to create “gotcha” moments, the potential for growth is exponential for all parties involved.

Beyond Test Scores and Retention of Information

6 Comments

There are two terms that I have seen thrown around which mean a lot more than how they are being used; learning and achievement. The reason these two come to mind is due to their direct connection to one another in the context of education.

If you dig a bit, when the word “learning” is being used, it is used instead of “retention and regurgitation.” If we use the term “learning” in this way, are we focused more on the depth of knowledge, understanding, and application, or are we preparing students for a high-stakes game of Jeopardy? This is not to say that retention of knowledge isn’t essential, but to say that the type of learning we are trying to achieve in school goes beyond memory and regurgitation.

Achievement, on the other hand, is often used instead of “scores,” most often received on test scores. I am not against tests in school, but I am against using the word “achievement” to equate to test scores only.

The connection between the two words is that “achievement” of deep “learning” is hard to measure, and what learning is necessary and essential to one person can be different to another. We talk about collaboration all of the time in education, but are we looking for a group of people that all think the same way and have the same abilities to work together, or are we looking for groups that bring different viewpoints, experiences, and knowledge to the table? Would you have an admin team in your school that all thought the same, or would you rather them bring different things to the table, more likely knowing that they will appreciate different skills and viewpoints of their staff?

So what do “achievement” and “learning” really mean? I could google a definition here and copy and paste it, but that is not the point of the post. The definition of a word often means less than the way we use the word. For example, if you are giving a report on how your students are doing in your school and use the word “achievement” or “student achievement”, but then go on to only list test scores, the definition of “achievement” doesn’t matter as much as what you are showing and telling your community.

The point of the post is that we need to question what these words mean when they are being thrown around in lieu of “retention” and “scores,” and also when they aren’t. School communities (not just teachers and administrators, but students and caregivers) would benefit from talking about these two terms (learning and achievement) and decide what they mean and what that looks like in their organization. These words are used all the time and if all they mean is “retention” and “scores,” we are limiting our students and our schools.

3 Ways Blogging Has Helped Me Grow as a Learner

3 Comments

I started blogging over eight years ago merely for the reason to understand how this type of platform would help our students.  Blogging has helped my learning grow significantly because I have done it consistently for myself, not necessarily for an audience.  Knowing an audience is there though, has made me think a lot deeper about what I share though, and it helps me create a “360 Degree View” of my learning; I do my best to focus on all angles of what I am sharing before I share it.  This quote from Clive Thompson is one of my favorites:

So thinking about the impact of blogging, here are three reasons that I think it has made an impact on myself as a learner.

1. Open (and Forced) Reflection.

I do my best to write a post for Sunday morning, Tuesday afternoon and Thursday afternoon, every single week. This doesn’t mean that I always do it, but I have been pretty consistent as of late. Forcing myself to write, even when I feel I have nothing to share, pushes me to reflect openly and think about moments I experience throughout my days. Reflection is so crucial for growth, yet creating that time within education seems to be a “nice to have” but seemingly not necessary. I am at the point that if I don’t blog, my brain starts to hurt. It helps me find a balance between consumption and creation.

But blogging is not the only way that we can create consistent opportunities for reflection within our schools. It is a great way, but not the only way. What is more important is having the consistency in the process to reflect actively.

This leads to the next point.

2. Writing to Learn.

One of the things that I have noticed through blogging is that sometimes I write to share my learning, and sometimes I write to learn. If I am struggling with a concept or idea, I blog it out and see where my writing will lead me. I did this in my last post where I ended up more on asking questions than giving answers. This open struggle can also lead to people commenting and helping to get you to think about things differently.

This distinction is crucial in education. Giving students the opportunity to just process without the pressure of having a “perfect product” is where creativity and innovation can flourish. If we are always looking for a completed idea, sometimes we get our idea in their voice, instead of helping our students to learn how to learn.

Writing openly does not mean having the answers, but that you are in the pursuit of processing questions and ideas.

3. Building a Library of my Thinking

To find the Clive Thompson image that I shared earlier in this post, I googled “George Couros Clive Thompson” and found an old post with an image I created on Canva. Because I have written consistently for such a long time, I have created a library of not only my thinking but the thinking and ideas of others. When I read a compelling article, books, or see a great video, I blog about it to not only share it with others but to have it available later for my reference.

Here is an example I suggest that might be helpful to students. Have a student find a video on a concept (like probability in math) and give them some guidelines of what you are looking for. Students can go through videos, find one, share how it meets the criteria and why it is a great video explaining the concept. Later, perhaps in an older grade, when the same idea is revisited, you can go back, look at your materials and use that as a space that will last longer than a notebook. Learning how to “tag” and “categorize” appropriately is beneficial to this process, but imagine if a student can build a library of outside resources for their reference and learning throughout their time in school and after.

Using your blog as a library can help you not only reference later, but give you the opportunity to go beyond retention, but to deep understanding and learning of materials.

(For more information, check out my posts on blogging as a digital portfolio.)

Blogging has been hugely beneficial to me as a way to grow as a learner. The key has been consistency and making that appointment with yourself to reflect. Blogging is not the only way, but for me, it has been great. I hope that sharing my learning has helped others, as the blog of others has helped me reflect and grow as well.

(If you are looking to blog, here are some reasons that might help you get started.)

The Balance Between Struggling and Developing Strengths

2 Comments

Image result for “Our job in this life is not to shape ourselves into some ideal we imagine we ought to be, but to find out who we already are and become it.”

I thought about this quote a lot this past week in connection to education as I listened to a powerful student speech where they encouraged their teachers not to have them conform into a specific “box” but help them bring out their talents while finding their path.  It received a well-deserved standing ovation, not only for the call-to-action but more importantly, the recognition of teachers in the room that were already creating the conditions where the student felt this was happening in their school.

I believe that helping students find their strengths is so crucial, but I also know that does not exclude students learning things that may not interest in the time.  There were times as a kid that I was pushed to learn Greek or play piano and I fought back hard, but now wish I could do both. In the process of learning things that we may not enjoy, we may find our strengths and passions.

Quick thoughts and a question:

1. School should be a place where we help students bring out their talents and empower them to find their own path.

2. Learning is not always “fun” but if you focus on the first point, more value can often be recognized in the hard stuff.

3. How do we move from a system of education that teaches way too many things to all students, where in many ways they will not be applicable to all students in the future? There are obviously some things that ALL students need to know, but ALL students do not necessarily need to know all the same things.

Writing this post is causing more confusion for myself than clarity, but I think that is the point.  As educators, it is not only beneficial but necessary that we wrestle with these ideas openly.  That is part of the learning that is necessary for growth as individuals and organizations.

3 Questions to Promote Innovative Leadership in Education

1 Comment

I received an email from a teacher the other day that was quite frustrated. They had shared (paraphrasing), that although they were encouraged to be “innovative” in their practice and each had received a copy of my book to promote this from their administrators, they felt that the leadership practice in their organization was more focused on micromanagement than they were on forward-thinking practices themselves. This is not the first time I have heard this, nor will it be the last.

This quote from Jamie Notter resonates:

So what does innovative leadership look like? Well, to be honest with you, if I could give you that answer than it probably isn’t that innovative in the first place. Understand that when I use the term it doesn’t just mean “new,” but more importantly, “new and better.” But “better” is something that has to be determined within the context of your work, past practices, and community needs.

So what are some of the questions that can help promote innovative leadership? Here are three that stick out to me.

1. What practices are we modeling in our work that we want to see in our classrooms?

I have seen administrators encourage teachers to be forward-thinking and create a trust-focused classroom while practicing extreme levels of micro-management. What teachers experience is what they often produce. If you want to see different practices, create the experience within professional learning opportunities and leadership practices.

For example, if you are in a school that educators need to get a certain number of hours for professional learning each year, does that have to be through conferences or could be done through learning in social media groups or blogging? Do you create conditions where people are nervous to try something new, or do you encourage and model risk-taking in your practice?

Modeling what you want to see is more likely to make it happen in classrooms than telling and not practicing it yourself.

2. Where do we have to be firm and where can we be flexible?

As an administrator, there were things I knew that I had to do to fall within specific guidelines based on government standards or superintendent direction. But there was WAY more flexibility than we like to admit in many schools.

For example, I have seen many schools complain about “testing culture” (rightfully so), yet many of those tests are not from the government and are not mandated, but are from schools and districts who are adding more testing to prepare for other tests. There is often too much of a focus on getting good at the test than there is on learning and we can often lose the development of the child along the way. They might be able to do well at the test, but long-term, do they deeply understand and can they apply the information, or were they just good at regurgitating it on that specific day?

There are many places that there are constraints in what we do as educators that are outside of our control. But innovating inside-the-box is crucial to figuring out ways that we can do “our job” while also focusing on what is beneficial to the students we serve in the long-term.

Flexibility is crucial to the growth and development of all the learners that you serve.

3. How are we developing innovative leadership at all levels within our organization?

Leadership is not reserved for administrators only. Allowing, and encouraging people to lead in many different areas in your organization can lead to a) less work for an administrator and b) better solutions than what you would have come up with yourself.

When I was a teacher, one of my principals asked me to go through the tech budget and decide what we should get with the money that was allocated. Usually, this was not a decision left up to a teacher, so I was surprised she was asking. But her logic made sense. She had told me, “You are the leader in our school in this area, so you are the best person to come up with these answers. We hired you to give us expertise, but that means very little if we do not give you ownership over the process.” The amount of time and effort I put into figuring out those solutions not only gave me ownership over the process, but it was like having “shares” in the school. It was more important to me for the entire school to be successful because now I was part of the decision-making process.

But don’t get giving leadership opportunities mixed up with simple delegation. Getting someone else to do something the way you wanted it done isn’t developing leaders but is focused more on simple compliance. When you give over the opportunities, to develop leadership, you have to give over the process. This is hard to do, but if we limit “innovative leadership” ideas to a few, growth will be minimal.

As I said earlier, these are just examples and ideas that might help guide the process, but the direction and modification have to be unique to your community. But if we want to see “innovation” as the norm in our schools, this has to be modeled and practiced ongoing by the administrators that are often asking for this to happen. Otherwise, it will be the exception and never the norm.

*As a side note, here is a “rubrics” I created on “The Innovative Leader” that may extend the conversation.

3 Important Areas to Shift the Conversation in Education

1 Comment

For years, I have been writing about how the term “data-driven” has bothered me in education. Simply stated, I feel students should be more “learner-driven” than “data-driven”; that we need to know our students as individuals first, and not simply as a collection of scores and numbers.  I would even say that the advocates of the term “data-driven” would say the same thing, but I feel that this term goes beyond semantics for the many teachers that cheer when I say how far we have gone astray by focusing so much on scores and not as much on individuals.

The reason I am thinking about this is that someone tweeted the following response to what I stated in a recent talk (I can’t find the tweet, but I do not want to take credit for it):

Learner-Driven > Data-Driven

It was simple but made the point.  It also made me think about what other ideas we need to rethink and shift.  A little bit more about “learner-driven” to start off.

1. “Data-Driven” to “Learner-Driven.”

Data is important. I would contend that shifting from the word “data” to “evidence” is beneficial because “evidence” hints at something much more holistic than data. It can be tests or assignments, but it can be in conversations, in and out of the classrooms, events that schools put on, and a myriad of extracurricular opportunities that show tremendous learning. Using evidence to INFORM practice and move it forward is serving the child is crucial.

But when using the term “learner-driven,” it is more about getting to know your students on an individual level and finding out what drives them and what would best support them. For example, I hated reading as a child because I was often forced to read things that I had no interest in at school. It took me years after school to start reading again on a regular basis. Since I was a good reader, it may not have had harmed me during my time in school, but later in life, did I lose out? I am not saying that everything in school should be “fun” but I do know that if I feel that I am valued as an individual, the “hard” or “boring” stuff becomes much more tolerable.

I have shared these questions to start off the school year before, and the purpose is to get to know the students as individuals and to help with the personalization of learning in classrooms.

Screen Shot 2017-07-22 at 8.54.52 PM

Here is one of the other reasons that I am trying to push the conversation to focus more on the learner. In a world where technology is more abundant than ever, we are in peril of losing some of our humanity. Conversations online seem to forget that on the other side of the screen is a human being with a story, strengths, and weaknesses, family and friends. When we do not see the impact of our words directly, it might not affect the person who delivers the message as much as the person receiving it. In a world where technology is everywhere, we need to focus more on what it means to be “human” than focus on that idea less. By being “Learner-Driven,” I feel schools can lead the way in this area in our world. We need schools that are more human, not less.

This leads to the next point.

2. Weakness-Focused to Strengths-Based.

No educator would say that they are “weakness-focused” outright, but sometimes our systems within education lead to that process. We often have meetings about our “struggling students” and talk about where they are weak. Then we wonder why they don’t want to be at school. If you were in a situation where you worked in an organization that was constantly focused on what you weren’t good at, and they developed strategies on how to “fix you,” you might not want to come to work each day. Students wouldn’t want to come either.

Rememeber…some of your worst students academically are some of your most talented and gifted students. Our conversations should always start with the strengths of the child and how we can build on that.  According to this article from “Scientific American,” focusing on strengths can have great benefits while ignoring strengths can be of a great detriment:

Some researchers have tested programs called “positive interventions” that give people the chance to uncover, explore, and practice their strengths. In one such program, people take a test to identify their top five character strengths, and then are tasked with using these strengths in a new and different way every day for a week. Researchers found that people who practiced their strengths in this way were happier and less depressed six months later.

Neglecting strengths might also have negative consequences. People may believe that their weaknesses will be lost over time, but that their strengths are there to stay. Because of this, we might not be very motivated to work on our strengths. Imagine a person who feels that they are a particularly kind person, and that this will never change. She or he might not take the time to cultivate kindness even further – for instance, to go out of her or his way to volunteer or help other people. Perhaps this person would instead let these habits slide, and – secure in her or his “kindness” – would actually become less kind over time. If we don’t actively engage with our strengths, we might see them fade.

This is not about “ignoring weaknesses” but understanding that developing confidence in our learners helps them grow through the process.  Weaknesses need to be improved but always start with the strengths.

3. From Product to Process.

Have you ever heard that stat along the lines of, “x percent of jobs in y amount of years will not exist today”? I have no idea the accuracy and if it is said every year, so how can it truly be measured?  But some of those jobs that don’t exist now, will not exist in the future as well.  Things will always change, so the stat doesn’t necessarily matter.  What does matter is that there will always be a need for people that can learn and adapt.  So going back to the first point on “learner-driven” versus “data-driven,” is the data based on the ability to learn or on what someone knows at a certain point in time?

People learn in different ways and different paces.  The focus is not necessarily the speed but the ability to grow.  It is harder to measure, but that doesn’t mean it is less important.

Remember…Pluto was once a planet.  Some information can change over time, but the ability to learn is forever.

Going through any of these points, I want to make sure that they are not seen as an “either/or” scenario.  Using data evidence to inform learning, developing weaknesses, and creating products in education will always be important.  My point is that we can place our focus starting in the wrong place.  Focusing on the learner, developing strengths, and focusing on the importance of the process of learning first will help grow the other areas, where the opposite might not always be true.

The Importance of Curiosity and Challenge in Education

6 Comments

In the book, “The Power of Why” by Amanda Lang, two quotes on the importance of curiosity in education stood out to me:

In an educational system in which productivity is measured by hours logged per task, number of worksheets completed and scores on standardized tests, it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to prompt kids to ask more questions unless the questions are about what’s going to be on the test. In many classrooms, stopping to encourage and mull over questions that aren’t procedural or directly related to the material at hand is viewed as wasting time. It’s no big surprise then that most kids come to school bursting with questions, but exit, a dozen or so years later, asking very few. Curiosity declines from one grade to the next, and the reason isn’t that kids’ thirst for knowledge has been satiated and they now know everything they want or need to know.

Here is something I have been thinking about…Whether “school” is the direct reason why kids lose curiosity over time shouldn’t matter. What should matter is that school should become a place where curiosity is developed in individuals no matter what factors have led to its decline.

And then this:

So instead of learning how to learn, many kids are learning how to be good at going to school. The straight-A student is, in virtually every educational setting, the one who has figured out what the teacher wants and how to deliver it.

I am not sure that I agree with the idea that the straight-A student” is always the one that appeases their teachers, but I know that all students should feel challenged to grow as learners. I had an interesting conversation with a student recently and they had acknowledged how “school” came naturally to them and when they first faced adversity, they had buckled under the pressure because they were not used to feeling challenged.  Resilience is developed through challenge, not comfort.

Curiosity is often what leads to challenge. We often ask questions about the things we don’t know (but want to) and finding answers to those questions is part of what leads to growth within education and after.

Image result for quotes on curiosity

3 Things in Education That Have Stayed the Same and How They Have Changed

3 Comments

Throughout the years, I have focused tremendously on the ideas of “change” and “innovation” in both my speaking and writing.  Change is a constant in our world, but I have noticed that I have been thinking a lot about what needs to stay the same in education.  Now nothing stays the same 100%, but some big ideas are as true today as they were when I went to school, although they can sometimes be forgotten or pushed aside for the sake of “new.” Although the big ideas are the same, the context evolves.

Here are three things that will always be a foundation for education and our school communities but are ever-evolving:

1. Relationships.

Relationships are probably neither forgotten or pushed aside in education today, but I would be remiss not to acknowledge how important this was when I was in school as well.  The teachers that treated me as an individual and cared about me first were the ones that I wanted to focus on working harder for in class.

Although relationships have always been meaningful, I feel that with technology, we have created opportunities for learners (at all levels including staff) to share a voice that they might not have thought they had before. The ubiquitous access to technology should allow us to build better relationships than before.  Simple video creation will enable us to connect when it is not possible to be “there.” I remind people that if a picture is worth a thousand words, what do you think a video is worth?

This is not to say face-to-face isn’t important (it is crucial), but the use of technology should promote better face-to-face connections, not less.

2. The importance of content.

I have shared this quote from Thomas Friedman many times:

“The world only cares about—and pays off on—what you can do with what you know (and it doesn’t care how you learned it).”

The part of the sentence that is often focused on is the “what you can do” element but the “what you know” part is just as essential.  Content is not unnecessary in education; it is crucial.  But what has changed is that content can be gathered from so many different sources than from when I first went to school. A school was the place that you went to gather knowledge.  But now information is abundant yet good information is as vital as ever.

The best analogy I had ever heard on the importance of content was from John Medina (author of “Brain Rules”). He stated (paraphrasing), “Creation without knowledge is the equivalent of playing the air guitar; you might know the motions, but you aren’t able to play.”

Although content has always been valuable, the shift in education has been to focus more on understanding and deep learning than solely retention.  Information that is solely retained yet not understood may look good in the short-term but in the long-term, has little benefit.

3. A focus on lifelong-learning.

I have heard the term “lifelong-learning” in education as long as I can remember as both a student and an educator. This is not new in the 21st century.  What is new, are the opportunities for learning and the rate that change is happening.  I am wondering if the term should be modified to “rapid-lifelong-learning” as even things that you get used to are seeming to change when you least expect it (hello new Gmail interface).  I hate terms like “fail-fast” or “fail-forward” because they insinuate something negative about moving along whereas “learn-fast” or “learn-forward” make a lot more sense to me.

Lifelong-learning is something that will never change, but we might have to get quicker at it.

I have heard this question often:

“What has changed and what has stayed the same?”

But a little shift in the question that could lead to some meaningful discussion is the following:

“What has stayed the same and how has it changed?”

There is so much to learn from all of the great work that has been done in education throughout the years, and the goal is not to rid ourselves of these great things, but to create something better with them.

Mentoring Others to Shine Their Light

4 Comments

The whole “there are two types of people” narrative is one that drives me crazy because people are complex and can’t be categorized simply. But lately, I have noticed different demeanors that are resonating with me.

Those who inspire you and push you to move forward.

Those who push you to stop what you are doing and create constant doubt.

I have been both, but I am trying to be the former more than the latter.

But let’s talk about the two paths.

People will try to separate the two above into “optimist” and “realist,” but I think the person who inspires can be both an “optimist” and a “realist.” They can redirect while still pushing forward.  The best leader I have ever encountered NEVER gave me a straight “no” on any idea, but she would say, “No, but I would consider this…”

Do you see the difference here?  Although the path could change, it was still about moving forward.

On the other hand, I have worked with people that are all about “no.” They had a problem with every solution and would make sure they would tell you why you were wrong. All. The.Time.

Your light shining, in their head, was dimming their own.

Here’s the other thing…sometimes these two people can exist in yourself. Self-doubt can be a good thing to make us think about our path, but can also become a bad thing when it stops our progress.

It reminds me of this story that I have seen shared often:

It is easy to solely criticize.  It is hard to mentor.  But mentorship is not without criticism, yet it is meant to grow a person, not diminish them.  Including mentorship of yourself.

As a reminder for myself when I feel negative…Teaching and education are all about the light you help others shine onto the world.