The Master Teacher Blog

This is a time when we often consider making resolutions for the coming year. These resolutions are aspirational, reflecting our hopes and intentions for the months ahead. Unfortunately, they are also often short-lived. Resolutions can require new skills, significant life changes, and relationship adjustments. They may even mean giving up things with which we are familiar and enjoy. Consequently, within the first month or two of the new year, most resolutions have gone by the wayside.

Nevertheless, there may be changes to make and goals to achieve in the coming year that are worth our time and effort. The key is to choose carefully, focus on what can help us make progress towards who we want to be, and be ready to follow through. Of course, it helps if our resolutions do not require significant new commitments of time, new skills, or abandonment of long practiced habits.

If this situation sounds familiar, you have good news. There are meaningful resolutions you can make that do not come with significant new time commitments but pay big dividends. They do not require new skills or new habits that would be difficult to sustain. Equally important, these resolutions offer significant and sustained benefits when practiced regularly. Consider these five options that you can start today and enjoy their benefits now and throughout the new year.

Resolution #1: I will be curious.

Curiosity is an attitude as much as a behavior. Being curious positions us to pay attention, ask questions, and explore what may be new or unique. Remaining curious can be a powerful way to help us to better understand and evaluate new ideas we encounter. Curiosity can help us build relationships with others. Curiosity can even be an effective strategy for resolving conflicts we encounter.  It can also be the door to continuous learning and growth.

Resolution #2: I will assume positive intentions.

When something unfortunate happens, we observe negative behavior, or are confused by what someone says, we have a choice to make. We might assume that someone intended to create a problem, behave badly, or their words were intended to hurt. Alternatively, we can assume that there may be more to the situation than we know and there is a legitimate reason for what someone said or did. The choice may matter more than we realize. When we assume negative intentions, we search for responsibility and blame. The result too often is unproductive, negative, and hurtful. When we learn the full story, we may even find ourselves apologizing for what we assumed. Assuming positive intentions, on the other hand, allows us to explore and gain understanding before deciding what to think and how to respond. Assuming positive intentions builds trust and promotes understanding—two helpful connections for the coming year.

Resolution #3: I will notice and celebrate small wins.

Small wins happen around us more often than we might realize—unless we are paying attention. In the aftermath of a resolved problem, a settled conflict, or completed task, we might quickly turn to the next issue or challenge and move on. Yet, small wins can be the fuel that keeps our energy flowing and our spirits high. Further, when we notice and celebrate small wins, they can grow and become much larger wins. Small wins can be momentum builders and confidence reinforcers. They are worth noticing and celebrating.

Resolution #4: I will be grateful.

Much like noticing and celebrating small wins, paying attention to what we should be grateful for and appreciating people who are important to us can be a powerful counterweight to what might otherwise drag us down. Incorporating gratitude into daily or weekly journaling, reflecting as we begin or end the day, or purposefully sharing gratitude in our conversations can make a surprisingly positive difference in our attitude and how we experience life. Reflecting on what is good in our lives and being thankful for people who support and love us does not have to be time consuming, but it can be life renewing.

Resolution #5: I will practice work-life balance.

There is almost always more work that could be done. We might do more planning. We might rework or tweak a project, or maybe just worry about a colleague or student. The list could go on. Finding work-life balance can become more of an art than science. But placing reasonable boundaries around work hours, setting priorities, taking regular breaks, and protecting time for family, recreation, and other personal activities can be the key to sustaining our energy, remaining motivated, and maintaining our sanity.

While these resolutions do not ask us to change major elements of our lives, they yield the greatest results when practiced regularly. With just a few weeks of practice, they can shift how we engage with others, shape our attitudes, and improve how we experience life.

Metaphors can be powerful tools for communicating and creating understanding. Part of their charm and utility is that they can help us to see limitations and imagine alternatives, a safe and inviting way to articulate the case for change and suggest possible options. With this context in mind, let's consider the metaphor of a typewriter to help us see how the design of our educational system might be holding us back from what we need. It might also help us to rethink the design in useful ways.

Consider that the typewriter was an amazing innovation in its time. The work of the traditional typesetter immediately became available to anyone with access to the machine. Professional printing was no longer the purview of a few highly skilled individuals. Similarly, the emergence of our public education system created access to learning opportunities that previously have been confined to the wealthy and privileged. However, while access remains important, access alone is not adequate to prepare students for their futures.

Rethink opportunity: How can we assure that every student has access to rich learning opportunities and support and is challenged to move their learning to ever higher levels and deeper understanding?

The typewriter provided precision in type and uniformity in presentation. Our education system, too, was designed to create uniformity and precision in teaching and learning. Schools were charged with preparing students for a predictable future and a stable economy that, for most graduates, required a relatively narrow set of minimal skills. Yet, today’s world demands creativity, innovation, and flexibility; skills difficult to foster in a standardized and compliance-based design.

Rethink opportunity: How might we design more opportunities for flexibility, variety, and diversity in learning experiences?

Typewriters were designed for use in isolation. A single person developed a single product following a set approach. Similarly, our schools were designed for learning to occur in a predetermined sequence, largely disconnected from application and devoid of collaboration. Meanwhile, today’s workplace values networks, shared creativity, and instant communication.

Rethink opportunity: How can we create learning environments that encourage collaboration, celebrate connections, and nurture learning networks?

Typewriters were not tolerant of mistakes or changes. Even minor errors in keystrokes required retyping or covering with “whiteout.” Changes to content typically meant starting over. The design of our educational system does not accommodate mistakes very well. Instruction is intended to keep moving forward. Mistakes are treated as interruptions and malfunctions rather than naturally occurring aspects of learning. Terms such as “remediation” imply having to fix learners rather than accepting and addressing errors and mistakes as important components of learning.

Rethink opportunity: How can we create opportunities for mistakes and errors to be celebrated as part of learning processes and utilized to accelerate understanding and deepen insights?

Typewriters immediately increased the productivity of office workers. Tasks that previously took excessive time and care became far less time intensive. However, we would not expect workers to meet workplace expectations today while relying on a typewriter to generate the volume and variety of products we take for granted. Yet, educators are expected to follow and rely on a system design that has changed relatively little since its creation in the late 1800’s. There should be little wonder about why schools often do not produce the results expected and needed in today’s world.

Rethink opportunity: How can we harness today’s technology tools to support greater productivity without adding excessive pressure and workloads?

Typewriters offer feelings of nostalgia for many people. The sounds of clicking keys and the bell of a return carriage can conjure familiar memories and reminders of simpler, less complicated times. The structures and schedules and the compliance and fact-focused curriculum of traditional schools can feel familiar, predictable, and even reassuring. However, the world for which today’s schools are challenged to prepare students will demand flexibility, collaboration, curiosity, imagination, and innovation; features traditional schooling was not designed to foster.

Rethink opportunity: How can schools evolve to encourage more curiosity, greater collaboration, expanded creativity, and richer imagination? 

The invention of the typewriter represented a major step forward in printing and the design of our education system opened the door to major advances in learning. However, much like the typewriter of yesteryear, our thinking and approaches to learning need to evolve and respond to new opportunities and the demands our students will face in life and work.

In an era where scrolling, skimming, and glancing frequently masquerade as learning, it can seem impossible to convince students to slow down and pay close attention. Yet, unless students fully engage, they do not learn on a deeper level or retain what they learn. We might describe this conflict as fast looking versus slow looking.

Fast looking takes in images, forms impressions, and makes quick judgments. Slow looking observes details, makes connections, reflects on meaning, considers implications, and forms questions. Slow looking requires intention and discipline.

Fast looking is a default mode for most people. While fast looking can carry us through the day, help us to follow routines, and keep us moving, it can deprive us of noticing, experiencing, engaging, and recalling much of what happens to and around us. In the classroom, fast looking can prevent students from fully engaging in what they are learning. It invites shortcuts and can contribute to superficial learning and short recall.

The meaning of slow looking has its roots in museum visit behavior. When observing a piece of art or rare artifact, we take time to really look. We might stand close to see details or step back to take in the full image. We might physically shift positions to investigate the object from different perspectives. We might engage another person in conversation about what they are seeing, how the object makes them feel, or what significance they take from what they are seeing and experiencing.

Obviously, not everything that we want students to learn and practice requires slow looking. Following established routines, recalling facts, and other activities that reinforce “muscle memory” can be accomplished with more superficial or fast looking. However, when we want students to observe important details, actively engage with new learning, and develop deep understanding, slow looking is what we need students to practice. Of course, most of what is important for students to learn, recall, and use in the future requires significant engagement and more than superficial understanding.

So, how can we teach students the discipline, habit, and value of slow looking? Here are seven ways to get started:

• Model slow looking. We might describe our behavior out loud. We can formulate questions, or mention what we are noticing as we observe, such as patterns, conflicts, and inconsistencies.
• Ask questions that stimulate slow looking. We might ask students what they notice. We can ask students what they wonder and what questions they have. We might probe to have students explain their reactions and feelings.
• Practice “wait time.” After introducing an object, topic, or asking a question, we might pause for several seconds before asking for observations, answers, or questions. Giving students time to think can generate more complete responses and give students who need more time to reflect better opportunities to participate.
• Structure silent observation to encourage noticing and reflecting. Initially, the silence might be for short periods to give students practice and then lengthen observation periods to a few minutes before beginning discussion.  
• Have students discuss their observations, reflections, and reactions with classmates. As students share, they are likely to uncover details they might initially have missed and learned from the observations, thoughts, and perspectives of other students.
• Delay sharing additional information. Student reflections, discussions, and questions will likely generate interest in learning more. Their curiosity and discoveries can set the stage for interest in learning with greater depth, nuance, and persistence. The additional information we share is likely to receive greater attention and lead to even more interest and questions.
• Revisit the object or topic after discussion or further investigation to capture additional thoughts and build deeper understanding. Once students hear from others and have time to reflect and further investigate, and receive additional information from us, they often will see things they missed, understand elements they overlooked, and have new questions to explore.

As students build their slow looking skills and habits, we are likely to find students practicing greater patience and focus on their learning. Their observation skills will grow as well as their curiosity and critical thinking skills. Equally important, we are apt to see greater emotional connections and empathy in their learning.

We might think of resilience as the ability to tolerate and survive adversity. Finding our way through difficult times is important. However, framing resilience as just getting by can lead us to ignore important dimensions and opportunities often found in adverse and challenging circumstances whether we are a teacher, administrator, or other member of the school team.

Resilience does not have to be a means to get past or get through difficult experiences. It can be the strategy we use to transform how we see our circumstances, discover opportunities within adversity, and a means to resurface with even more confidence and competence as a person and as a professional.

Rather than seeing resilience as solely the capacity to respond, we might think of it as a strategy for reframing our thinking and choosing our response. In fact, we might think of resilience as powered by four factors over which we have control, attitude, gratitude, fortitude, and aptitude. Let’s unpack these four factors and examine how they can shift our thinking and empower us to come back stronger after negative experiences, challenging circumstances, or adverse conditions.

Our attitude empowers our resilience. Attitude is a choice. It is the mindset we bring to life’s challenges. Our attitude is our interpretation of what we face and the story we tell ourselves about what is real and what is possible. When we choose a positive, “can do” attitude we do not deny difficulty. Instead, we open the possibility for growth and opportunity. Our attitude can be the difference between what we see as a dead end and what we perceive as a temporary detour. Our attitude can reframe the setbacks we experience as problems to solve and lessons to learn rather than personal or professional failures.

Our gratitude grounds our resilience. Gratitude helps us to appreciate what we have even when we may not have or be experiencing what we want. Gratitude helps us to remain balanced when not everything is going our way. Gratitude supports and preserves our relationships despite pressure and strain. When we are grateful, we can find silver linings in the face of difficulty without being naïve or dismissing the difficulties we confront. Gratitude helps us to maintain hope and prepares us to bounce back as circumstances change.

Our fortitude drives our resilience. Fortitude is the grit to act despite difficulty. Fortitude is the willpower to persist despite pressure, barriers, and setbacks. Fortitude keeps us going when our motivation dips and our energy ebbs. Fortitude can be as simple as deciding to keep walking and working despite the detours and distractions we face. Fortitude is focusing on next steps and doable actions that will move us forward, even if it is a small amount.

Our aptitude defines and draws on the skills we need to build our resilience. Resilience is not just an emotional response. Resilience involves gaining an objective understanding. Resilience is solving problems and finding answers. Resilience is leveraging our strengths, being smart in the effort and strategies we deploy, and accessing the resources available to us. Resilience is made up of skills we can learn and hone. Difficult times can be rich opportunities for learning, skill-building, and practice. Our aptitude for resilience is built on knowing ourselves, building our confidence, and honing our competence.

We can choose to see hope and possibility in the circumstances we face. We can continue to appreciate what we have even when what we want may be difficult to achieve. We can choose to act and persist even when circumstances challenge us. And we can use the adversity we face to define the skills we need, build the capacity to succeed, and emerge stronger, wiser, and ready to lead.

Not everything that is relevant today is new. Also, not everything that is useful with students originated in education. An excellent example of this observation is a reflection process developed for healthcare professionals several decades ago. Despite how long it has been around, it remains a useful tool to stimulate and guide reflection activities. It is deceptively simple, but surprisingly powerful. The process consists of just three questions:

• What?
• So what? 
• Now what?

This question sequence provides a useful way to organize thoughts, consider implications, and decide next steps. The reflection process works by breaking down information into useful parts. It also clarifies relevance of the topic being considered. Finally, it encourages individuals to take action because of the reflection.

We can use the reflection tool to help students reflect on and learn from conflict, missteps, or misbehavior. Students might use this tool to understand the significance of their effort and persistence in the face of an academic challenge, or to help them reflect on and better understand their behavior in a relationship. Let’s unpack these questions and explore how they might be used to guide and support student reflection activities regardless of topic, subject, or experience.

“What?” focuses on the experience, event, or interaction. In the first step, students describe what happened. They isolate the facts of the matter by recounting what they observed. Students may describe an assignment or project they were engaged in. They may reflect on an event in which they participated. They may recount a conversation, argument, or something they heard. They also detail the role they played in what happened.

Our coaching role during this step of the reflection process is to have students be clear, concrete, and concise. The key is to help students begin their reflection with reality, not what they assume or imagine.

“So what?” engages students in interpreting, analyzing, and contextualizing what happened. In the second step, students describe why the experience, event, or interaction was important. They may discuss why they reacted as they did. They might recount how they felt as the situation unfolded. They may even provide context that explains why they found the experience to matter. Further, students might provide history of a relationship, a struggle to complete a task, or an analysis of their behavior. Finally, this step asks students to consider what they learned through the experience.

Our coaching in this step is to help students to recall what they felt, how they reacted, and what they learned. We may need to ask nudging questions to help students find their way through emotions, assumptions, and other distractions that get in the way while making sense of what they experienced.

“Now what?” focuses student attention on the implications of the experience and future actions. In the third step, students ask themselves what they would do differently if they encountered the same circumstances, challenges, or interactions in the future. They might draw on what they discovered in the second step of the process to determine how they can adjust their thinking and behavior. Students also may find that there are skills and information they need to learn to help them complete this phase. Depending on the situation, students may plan the next steps they will take to resolve the situation or how they will reengage in a project or task. They might even develop a script to use in resolving a conflict.

Our coaching at this stage of the process is to encourage commitment and to help students define, determine, and deploy the steps or strategies they will use to move forward. Students may need our insights and ideas to help them figure out what they will say and what actions they will take.

These three questions may seem simple—even obvious. However, when deployed with thought and commitment, they can generate powerful insights and lead to significant changes in thinking and behavior.

We typically think of resilience as finding our way through a difficult experience or time, recovering, and being able to move past the experience. We may carry some “scars” with us from the experience, but we assume that returning to where we were before is success. Yet, settling for the ability to endure and survive leaves us where we started with little benefit to show from the experience.

As unpleasant as uncertainty, challenges, and change can be, they do not have to break us or even leave us where we were before they emerged. Adversity can be an important opportunity and stimulus for growth and learning. We might look to nature to understand the benefits of approaching challenges with an adaptive mindset. We know that when we stress our muscles in strength training, we become stronger. Trees exposed to persistent, vigorous wind develop stronger, deeper root structures. The stress of forest and grass fires stimulate new plant growth. When predators are introduced to ecosystems, other animals develop greater awareness, avoidance, defense, and escape skills.

Author Nassim Nicholas Taleb in his book, Antifragile: Things That Gain from Disorder, describes three general response options to stress, challenge, and uncertainty:

• Fragile: Unprepared, unaware, inflexible systems and people are likely to break under stress. Rather than endure, they give in to the pressure and abandon the struggle. Adversity leaves them weaker, less able to deal with stress, and with diminished ability to confront the next challenge.
• Resilient: Strong, durable systems and people focus on managing, enduring, and surviving. Their goal is to “live to fight another day,” but not necessarily adjust or improve because of the experience. Adversity generally leaves them where they started: standing, but not stronger or wiser.
• Antifragile: Flexible, adaptive, responsive systems and people view uncertainty, adversity, and pressure as opportunities to learn, adapt, innovate, and grow. Returning to normal following challenging times is not their goal. Becoming stronger, becoming better able to adapt and adjust, and building toward new levels of skill and success are their intended “takeaways” from these experiences. 

When conditions change, new elements are introduced to our world, or new challenges emerge, we can choose to give in and abandon the struggle, endure and survive, or adapt, learn, and grow. The course we choose can have lasting effects on our personal and professional lives.

Certainly, there are times when choosing to fight is futile, or committing to hang on is the best we can do. However, the greatest upside potential lies in leveraging difficult experiences to learn, grow, adjust, and thrive. The question is: How can we make the best use of challenging experiences and emerge wiser, stronger, and ready for what lies ahead? Consider these seven strategies as places to start:

• Interrogate adversity to find lessons you can learn. The lessons you learn may not only be useful now, but they may be good preparation for the future.
• Consider the challenge as an opportunity to innovate. Now can be a time to try something new.
• Explore what beliefs or assumptions may be getting in your way or holding you back. Try flipping your perceptions about the situation and see what new insights emerge.
• Examine the strategies and approaches that appear to be working for others. They may have discovered something that will be useful to you.
• Revisit something you tried that did not work.  Often the “seeds of success” can be found in efforts and attempts that did not fully produce desired results.
• Accept that you hold the power to choose how you will respond regardless of what you face. Embrace the power you have.
• Ask yourself, “What would I do if I were not afraid?” Fear can keep us from considering options and solutions that may involve risk but also hold significant promise.

Adversity is a natural part of life. We will face it regardless of whether we choose or deserve it. The question for us is how we will respond. We can give in, tolerate, or leverage these experiences. The choice we make can make a significant difference to our confidence, sense of control, and ability to deal with what the future holds.

Resource: Taleb, N. (2012). Antifragile: Things That Gain from Disorder. Random House.

Hopefully, the summer has offered opportunities to disconnect from the press and stress of the past year and provided time to engage in other activities and endeavors. Mental and physical breaks are important to our health and feeling of well-being. They can also help us to refresh and re-energize.

However, the beginning of another school year will soon be upon us. These final weeks of summer can be a good time to begin to mentally re-engage. It can also be a time to revisit and maybe shift some important mindsets that can help us to have a successful start and sustain us throughout the year. Here are five perspectives that can help us to balance our thinking and inform our work as we prepare for what lies ahead.  

Less expectations for control and more prioritizing connection.

Classroom management is a key element in maintaining order and a focus on learning. We need to establish routines and clear behavior expectations. However, effective and sustainable classroom management requires more than setting rules and controlling behavior. The best classroom management grows out of mutual respect and strong, positive relationships with our students. Our success in the opening weeks of school and beyond will rest as much on the connections we make with students as they will on the rules we ask them to follow.

Less focus on covering content and more attention to nurturing learning.

For most of us, preparation to become a teacher focused heavily on how to organize and present content. Priority was often placed on coverage of what was contained in the formal curriculum. While these elements remain important, more crucial is what students understand, the purpose learning can serve, the ways in which they can use it, and the value they assign to it. A perfectly presented lesson carries little value if students fail to absorb, integrate, and retain what is presented to them. Now is a good time to remind ourselves that our work is nurturing learning, not just presenting content. We might think of our work as designing learning experiences, not planning lessons. Only when students are active participants in the teaching and learning process can we expect deep and lasting learning to result.

Less preoccupation with deficits and more valuing of assets.

It can be tempting to fall into the habit of focusing on what students do not know, what they cannot do, and the many things they do wrong. Students are not perfect, but every student has unique experiences, multiple strengths, and their own perceptions, perspectives, and strategies for managing life. The more we can identify, focus on, and leverage the valuable assets students possess the more we can build their confidence, gain their trust, and nurture their engagement. Of course, some students may not be convinced of their assets, and we may need patience and persistence to help them shift their thinking and begin to appreciate their assets.

Less pouring information in and more drawing insights out.

Many traditional teaching practices are based on the John Locke theory that students come as empty vessels and need to be filled with the information and knowledge that teachers present. Yet, we know that students come with many experiences, preferences, prior knowledge, and a desire to drive, or at least influence, what they learn. We also know that students learn better when they see connections to things they already know or have learned. The more we can draw out the ideas students have, help them make connections with what they already know, develop insights about what they are learning, and provide them with opportunities and options to influence and use what they learn, the more engagement, commitment, and learning retention we will see. 

Equal priority on products and process.  

During the school year, it is important to not only prioritize student success with grades, test scores, and other outcome measures, but also to equally value the learning process to obtain success along the way. While final products are important, they carry little value if the considerations, decisions, and processes necessary to generate them are ignored or lost. Increasingly, artificial intelligence can generate a product without students understanding context, being aware of sequences, or gaining crucial knowledge. Grasping key principles, managing essential information, developing core knowledge, and other process elements can be equally as important as generating a grade, obtaining a test score, or completing a project. The more we can help students to meaningfully engage in and value the processes that contribute to or generate important outcomes, the better prepared they will be for the world after graduation.

Undoubtedly, the coming year will be filled with its share of challenges and opportunities, delights and disappointments, successes and setbacks. Consider the balance of these five mindsets as you navigate what lies ahead. Also, feel free to add other mindsets that you have found helpful to guide your thinking and inform your actions. 

Refusing to assume that students are lazy may seem like a preposterous proposition. If we apply the common definition of laziness to the behavior of some students—procrastination, taking shortcuts, failing to follow through—we might conclude that there is a perfect match. However, labeling a student as lazy has some serious downsides.

Once we decide that a student is lazy, we often feel that there is no need to search further to understand their behavior. Yet, what we are seeing may be the result of a variety of factors, pressures, and circumstances. We also risk blaming the student for a problem that may not be their fault.

Laziness is often assumed to be a character trait, but no scientific research identifies laziness as an element of someone’s character. Further, punishing laziness does not make students more motivated, conscientious, or committed to learning. The behaviors of procrastination—taking short cuts and a lack of follow-through—may look like laziness, but they may be the result of something that is addressable and fixable. Labeling students as lazy cuts off the need to inquire, blames the student, and may allow us to feel that we do not have to do more.

On the other hand, if we refuse to assume laziness as the cause of student behavior, we open the door to ask some important questions: What is driving the behavior? What about the task associated with the behavior may be contributing to the conduct? Is there something else going on that drives the behavior we are observing?

We also might ask: What are the consequences of being wrong? If we assume the student is lazy and there is something else at play that is holding the student back, we will have squandered an opportunity to make a difference. We may also brand the student in ways that become self-fulfilling prophecy. If we assume the student is not lazy, when they actually are, we can still learn more about the student, uncover possible ways to make them less lazy, and we may even plant some seeds that take root and grow in the future.

So, what opportunities lie in refusing to assume that students are lazy?

• We move from blaming the student’s character to exploring what may be causing the behavior.
• We look beyond the student’s behavior and try to learn and understand the back story of their choices.
• We move from making assumptions about the student toward understanding their perspective, experience, and life circumstances.
• We lessen our focus on compliance and look for ways to make and strengthen our connection with the student.
• We become less occupied with punishing and more focused on problem-solving.
• We leverage the power of our positive assumptions to lift our expectations and strengthen our support.

We may discover that some difficult realities underlie what appears to be laziness. The student may lack underlying skills that need to be strengthened. They may fail to see relevance or challenge in what we are asking them to learn. They may have failed so many times that they lack confidence in their potential to succeed. They may fear what friends would think if they began to behave as though they care. Of course, the list of learning-related challenges could go on. Yet, these are issues about which we can usually do something to make the situation better and increase opportunities for success.

We may also find that what is causing the behavior lies beyond the student’s experience in school and our ability to intervene. We may need to enlist the efforts and support of others in the student’s life. We might need to recruit professionals within and beyond the school to intervene and provide support. While we may not be able to solve these issues, our interest, concern, and support can make a determinative difference to the student and lead to shifts in behavior and a stronger relationship with us.

It may seem that laziness is straightforward behavior. However, upon examination, there is often much more to the situation than first appears. Only when we go beyond making assumptions and drawing conclusions are we able to understand, intervene, and make the difference that can change a life.