TGIF Syndrome

In the past month or so, I have finished reading Steve Farber’s The Radical Leap, and I am currently halfway through Jon Gordon’s Training Camp.  Reading these books about extreme leadership, passion, and excellence, combined with a complete overhaul of my classroom philosophy, has opened my eyes to a number of things that now bother me more than they probably should.  The “TGIF syndrome” is one that I see way too often… 

One of the main things that I attempt to encourage my students to do is to “do something that you love, pursue a passion, and to always come to school for yourself, not for your teacher or administrator.”  I see students on a daily basis that have no motivation to improve in any way, shape, or form.  They are trying to just get by these next few years so that they can graduate and… (I end the sentence there because these are the students that either don’t know what they will do, or have a completely skewed vision of what it takes to get where they want to go). 

Fridays motivate me.  Occasionally Thursdays do too, and in some severe cases, the previous Sunday motivates me to continue encouraging students to pursue a passion and to find something they love to do.  I mostly find the motivation on social media from friends, peers, colleagues, and complete strangers in the form of the “TGIF syndrome.”

Disclaimer:  I’m not suggesting I’m innocent of ever wanting to get through a day or week.  The “TGIF syndrome” refers to people who consistently take part in the activity of grinding out their weeks only for the weekend.   

The “TGIF syndrome” is present in that person that posts the traditional “TGIF” or “come on weekend” or “ugh, tomorrow’s Monday” or “how can it only be Wednesday” and so on and so forth.  People that publicly announce their disgust for their chosen work that just cannot wait to get to the weekend. 

Ever since I have made each day at work about what I love, interaction with people, I have removed any trace of that mentality from my thinking.  I love spending time with my family on the weekend like anyone else, but to wake up each day not wanting to go to work so badly that a public announcement of your misery is necessary is no way to live. 

I write this Today to encourage colleagues, friends, and students to find something that you love to do to call a profession.  Don’t just do things to get by.  If you wake up each day and find that the “TGIF syndrome” is real, begin to find what you love in your work and make that a focus, or begin to sketch out a plan to pursue another path.  Don’t get through 5 days each week just to enjoy 2.  Enjoy all 7!

I strongly recommend both of the books that I mentioned in the opening paragraph to anyone, especially those caught up in the “TGIF syndrome.”  They both have changed the way I view my self, my profession, and most importantly my time.  I hope that everyone who reads this post is curious enough to at least examine their purpose.  If you need motivation, read the books.  If you have the motivation, find that positive energy that you get from your life and work, and focus on it, pass it on daily, and let the snowball effect take over in both your personal and professional life.

Take care,

Coach Mo

***A special thanks to my good friend, Mike McDonough, who recommended both books to me.  I am glad I finally took his advice to become a “LEAPer,” even though I resisted it for a couple of years.  What a mistake!***

School Culture Part 2: Pursue Your Passion

If you missed part 1 click here- School Culture: A Mindset

Two weeks ago I was in my classroom having one-on-one meetings with my students.  This is a daily routine for me, but something amazing was happening as the students and I reviewed their projects that they had just completed.   These particular meetings had a phrase in them that I hadn’t heard all that much in my teaching career:  “thank you.”

Students were thanking me for my class.  I’ll give you a moment to let that sink in….

…  Yes, thanking me. 

As we discussed their projects, reviewed their methods of research, and talked about their struggles and successes, I was hearing things such as-

“I learned so much because I actually wanted to learn this” and “I’m so happy that we get to pick our topics” and “I’ve been waiting for this class my entire school career, finally I get to do something relevant to my life.” 

The common theme was that students were learning about topics that they were interested in, and were using methods of presentation that they were good at or passionate about.  This wasn’t just a free-for-all.  Students had to select a topic related to our unit to use as the base for their research with the goal of satisfying the unit objectives.  Then, they could use whatever means they wished to communicate their learning. 

Fast forward to the next period of the day.  I was eating my lunch reflecting upon the theme I mentioned above.  I was putting pieces of a puzzle together as I took what these students had said to me and connected them to previous conversations.  These were primarily upper classmen that had the insight of real-world connections, doing things they loved, and not wasting their time.  A few had communicated to me that they already know what they want to do with their lives, and a few had absolutely no clue what they want to do. 

Then an idea hit me.  I quickly finished my sandwich and left for the front office.  Luckily our building principal was in his office and he was gracious enough to make time for me on the spot.  I pitched to him my new idea and made it clear that I hadn’t really thought it out yet, but I wanted to present the idea even if there was no chance of it happening.  My idea was to teach a new course offering called “pursue your passion.”  My description went something like this…

We have students that know what they want to do with their life and don’t get to practice it each day.  We have students that don’t know what they want to do with their life, but never get to attempt things that may lead them to discovering their purpose without fear of a grade.  I’d like to teach a course that isn’t graded, but is required.  Students would come in everyday and my class would accomplish a number of things…

1.  Students would get to do what they love- too many people get to age 25 or 30 and are constantly told to pursue their passion only to realize that there isn’t much of a future within that passion.  Students would find out what they can do with that passion at a younger age.  By doing this, students also begin to develop that mindset that school is for them (see part 1) and this mindset would be discussed daily so that they may carry it over into other classes. 

2.  Students would get to try new things- students would be challenged to fail.  Fail because they attempted new things, or tried out a project that they never thought they could do.  Students would learn through the failure, and develop new skill sets that they can carry over into their life and also into other courses.  One thing I have discovered in my classroom this past nine weeks is that many students resort to a poster board, a paper, or power point not because it is the easiest thing, but because they don’t know what else to do.  Trying new methods of project presentation would open their minds to alternative ways of skill building and learning. 

3.  Students would develop an appreciation for what school has to offer- I mentioned this in #1, but the goal of the course would be to give students direction in their life.  I wouldn’t want freshman and sophomores to choose their future profession, but I would hope that by trying many types of things in my class they would at least have a base understanding of what is out there.  This would bring us back to the whole goal of creating that mindset within the student that they are at school for themselves, and for the reason of gaining skills and knowledge that they can use to make themselves better in any area of their life that they wish.  Our students need to come to school looking to get better, not looking to satisfy the teacher. 

I could go on and on with ideas for the course, but as I mentioned in #3, it all comes back to creating the culture that school is for the student, not for the teacher’s requirements.  I realize that my course is a long shot at best, but I’d love for teachers to consider taking some of its components into consideration in their own courses. 

Allow students to have a choice, allow them to pursue the things that they love, encourage them to fail by trying something new, learn from failure, apply the concepts to the real world, and so on. 

My principal was a great listener to my course pitch.  He agreed with most of what I had to say, and echoed my desire to have educators everywhere adopt some of the mindset that my course would foster.  I thanked him for listening, just as my students thanked me for my current course.  I am not sure what will come of it, but I hope that because I am sharing my thoughts with him, and sharing my thoughts through my blog, that small changes will be made in many classrooms that create a better culture and learning environment for our students.

Take care,

Coach Mo

"I've got to be honest, this is not your best effort"

 **Note:  I wrote this a few weeks ago and never got around to posting.   Enjoy!**

Each Sunday my in-laws have my wife, my son, and I over for lunch after Church.  This past week, I gobbled up my pork tenderloin, red-skinned potatoes, and green beans and found the perfect moment to quietly excuse myself to catch the end of some basketball games.  As I sat watching Kentucky put away Florida in the final minutes, my wife entered the room laughing hysterically. 

“Did you hear that?” she said.  “No, what’s up?” I replied.

Grandma had made a cake for dessert and as the rest of the family was eating (I don’t really do sweets) she made a comment suggesting feedback on the quality of the cake. 

“Grandpa, out of the blue, just said ‘I’ve got to be honest, this is not your best effort’ and had this look on his face that he was so serious, can you believe it?  It was so funny!”

I don’t know if my wife wanted me to laugh along with her or what, but my reaction was something like “well, she wanted feedback, I’m happy he was honest.” 

Had he not been honest, nobody else would have.  Everyone laughed not only because it is funny, but I’d bet much of the laughter was out of disbelief that someone would be that open so suddenly.  I get the part about not wanting to hurt someone’s feelings, but if people are never made aware of shortcomings, I do not believe they’ll ever reach their potential because they will store away in their mind that what they have done is good enough and will never look to improve. 

I translate this to school when I look at the way we grade students.  I cannot stand grades as they are in our system today.  We grade because we are supposed to and have always graded this way and have been conditioned to believe that it is the best and only way to evaluate our students.  Anymore, grades do not reflect what a student knows or has achieved, but they reflect the student’s level of compliance mixed with a touch of memorization topped off with an ounce of actual intelligence (recipe not exact, season to taste). 

Two examples of my disgust for grades from this past week: 

1.  I had a young man meet with me to discuss his grade.  He was not upset that he had a 95%, but was upset that his buddy also had a 95%.  “My project was better than his,” was his comment.  I proceeded to ask him why he was upset with this and why he was using others as his gauge.  “Did you do your best?  Did you learn what you set out to learn?  Are you satisfied with what you did?  Did you invest in your own education making yourself a better person and learner?”  His answer was yes to all of these, and before the end of our conversation he had made a complete 180 and was admitting to me that the reason he was upset was that he’s always thought of a grade as the only measurement because that is what he has been told.  Grades and class rankings have brainwashed our students to do things to earn a grade so that they can compare themselves with others, not to do things to learn, improve themselves, and acquire new skills. 

2.  A young lady asked me to read an article she wrote for the school paper.  Before I read it, another teacher that was standing there with me asked her if it was any good.  She said, “yes, I got an A+.”  We both inquired further asking what that A+ meant.  She stumbled a bit over some dissatisfying explanations (to both herself and my colleague and I) and ended with, “well, it is proof.  It is proof that it is good.”

I read the article and was very proud of her because it was an opinion column that took an unpopular side in regards to school systems (right up my alley right?).  Anyway, I didn’t want to say that it wasn’t an A+ paper because I didn’t know the requirements of the assignment, but I was left with an empty feeling.  I told her “well, it’s ok” because I thought it could be so much better.  I thought her topic really could have been a home run, and she had settled for a single because she had been told that she had an A+. 

Later on that day, I thought about how I was dissatisfied with the feedback I gave her because she had to run off to her next class.  I felt as though I had let her down.  I didn’t give her the feedback that Grandpa gave Grandma about the cake.  I gave feedback that the cake was “ok,” leaving her without the desire to make it better.  I sought her out later in the day and confirmed what I had thought.  I confirmed with her that she had a passion about this subject, and that she wrote an opinion column, but didn’t put her full thought into the paper because she was afraid of having that opinion that challenged the status quo.  I encouraged her to share her opinion, and to improve her paper despite that A+ mark.  Why can’t we all just encourage students to have the very best product each and every time?  Why let a student settle for something less?  I am not blaming other teachers, I am guilty of this at times, but we cannot accept mediocrity and slap a grade on a paper that makes them believe mediocrity is the standard. 

I could go on and on with my feelings about this subject, but these individual cases are not the issue.  The issue is that here were young people that invested in an assignment of some kind without the sole desire to do it for themselves and to do their very best no matter what.  They set out to earn a grade that gave them satisfaction or proof of success.  Until we reach a point that students come to school each and every day with the goal of improving rather than earning a grade, we’ll never get the very best from them.  We need more teachers, administrators, and parents to look at their student and tell them “I have to be honest, this isn’t your best effort” and help them to create that very best product, not just slap a value to it and move on.