- Keep the main thing the main thing. This affirmation can help us to remain focused when we face myriad issues and challenges and are at risk of becoming distracted by detail or overwhelmed by demands. Remaining focused on what matters most, whether student learning, health and safety, or instructional effectiveness, can help us to ignore what does not deserve our attention and energy and prioritize what does. This affirmation can prompt us to ask, “What really matters here?”
- The most important step in any journey is the next step. When beginning major projects or undertaking a challenging change process, we can become so focused on potential problems, strategies to employ, or what will be required that we forget that every journey is a series of steps and actions. We may want to immediately be at the end point. Or we may become overwhelmed with what lies ahead. Yet, what we do next will often play a key role in determining whether the ultimate outcome will be reached. The truth is that each step matters and the opportunity to make progress lies in taking the next step. We need to ask ourselves, “What is the next step that will move me forward?”
- Intentions matter more than motivation. At first, this affirmation might seem counterintuitive. Motivation creates energy and excitement for what may lie ahead. Yet, while motivation can be useful in getting started, it can lack focus and wane as the reality of the work and struggle necessary for success becomes evident. Intentions, on the other hand, position us to commit. Intentions can help us to focus our energy and carry us through when our motivation may not be as strong as it was at the beginning. We can “power through” even when our motivation wanes by asking, “What am I committed to and why does it matter?”
- Time is my most important resource. Each day we face requests, distractions, opportunities, and expectations that compete for our time. We may be inclined to respond as much and as often as we can, believing that engaging with people and responding to their needs and interests are important. While to an extent, this perspective makes sense, it overlooks an important fact. We have a limited number of hours and minutes each day. How we choose to use the time we have will determine our success and the extent to which we can serve the needs of those who depend on our leadership. We do well to ask ourselves often, “What is the best use of my time in this moment?”
- Gratefulness makes everyone’s day. Life is often hectic, even chaotic at times. We face multiple demands and must respond to varied situations. It can be easy to fall into a habit of finding fault, lamenting problems, and regretting actions taken, or not. Yet, during even the most difficult times, there are opportunities, experiences, and relationships for which we can be grateful. Reflecting on, appreciating, and sharing what we can be grateful for can immediately change our attitude, help us to reframe a situation, or lift the spirits of those around us. When gratefulness becomes part of each day, it makes each day better. We can summon these feelings by asking ourselves, “What can I be grateful for right now and who needs to hear it?”
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In Your Corner, Leadership and Change Management
Tap Five Success-Generating Leadership Affirmations
Affirmations have long been known to be effective ways to shift thinking and pursue important goals in our personal lives. They have been shown to create clarity and focus our thinking. Affirmations can also help us to align our energy and attention in ways that produce tangible results.
However, we don’t often think about affirmations as contributing to leadership success. Yet, the same factors that can make affirmations useful tools to achieve personal goals can help us focus our professional attention, align our energy, and see opportunities that we otherwise might miss.
Regardless of life context, our thoughts are powerful shapers of how we see reality. What we tell ourselves influences our perceptions. What we think drives where we invest our energy and how we respond to experiences.
Affirmations help us to form intentions and shape goals. Of course, affirmations work when they are repeated, reflected upon, and regularly applied in our actions. The more frequently we say, think about, and act on affirmations, the more powerful their impact can be.
When affirmations become part of our leadership thinking and actions, they can help us to gain new insights, discover new strategies, and form stronger, more influential relationships. Let’s explore five leadership affirmations worth tapping in our daily thinking, actions, and routines:
In Your Corner, Student Learning
Struggling to Get Students to Ask Questions? Try These Strategies
There are many reasons why we want and need students to ask questions. The questions students ask can tell us whether they understand what they are learning and are ready to move forward, or they can communicate uncertainty, confusion, and misconceptions. Students’ questions can signal interest in going deeper and exploring further. Questions can reveal worry and stress or excitement and confidence. The questions students ask can also be evidence of disengagement and resistance when they are off topic or laced with anger and cynicism.
However, access to the full range of student questions requires us to create conditions under which students are willing and able to tell us what we need to know. Students need to be confident that we are ready listen. They need to feel respect for their thoughts, opinions, and concerns. Students need to experience our patience when their questions reveal the need for more guidance and support. Of course, they also need to feel safe and free from emotional attack.
Still, establishing these conditions only “opens the door” to questions. It does not guarantee that students will freely respond when we need to know if they understand. Students may still be reluctant to admit confusion or lack of understanding, and they may be hesitant to share worries and stress without support and prompting. Unless we invite students to share their interests and go deeper with their learning, they may be hesitant to ask a question that reveals a perspective that is not shared by others in the class or group.
Success typically requires us to provide the stimulus and process for questions to surface and be voiced. Let’s explore some ways in which we can gain access to students’ questions while “sidestepping” many potential barriers.
One way to “prime the pump” for questions is to ask students to write a question they have. As examples, we might ask students to frame a question that demonstrates what they have learned today. We might ask them to write a question about something they are finding difficult about what they are learning. Or, we might ask them to write a question about what else they would like to learn on a current topic.
Another option is to provide students with sentence stems and starters that are formed as questions. Examples might be “I wonder why…?” “How can I concentrate when…?” And, “Who can help me understand…?” Sentence stems can help students to think of questions and reduce their hesitation since they are only completing the questions, not starting them.
Still another strategy is to establish a routine for questions after information is presented, a demonstration is concluded, group discussions are finished, assignments are given, and other class activities are complete. For example, we might set an expectation for questions by saying, “I need three questions before moving on to our next activity.” Here, we make questions part of the transition process. At first, students are likely to be reluctant but as the expectation becomes routine, questions are likely to come easier and be more substantial. Of course, we need to be patient and allow time for significant questions to be framed and presented. Research shows and experience verifies that we typically do not allow adequate time for students to contemplate and form questions before we move on.
We might also have students turn to a classmate or form a small group to present and discuss questions. This strategy presents questions as an expectation without making the conversation as public as asking questions with the entire class listening. Of course, we can wander among our students listening for questions that follow a common theme or represent the need for further explanation or clarification.
If students have access to technology, we can utilize applications such as Padlet for students to post questions without having to worry about presenting them orally. As students post their questions, we can cluster similar questions, sort for urgency and importance, and provide responses as appropriate. Meanwhile, we will be assuring students that they are not the only members of the class who have questions or may struggle with a specific concept or learning task.
Admittedly, stimulating students to ask their questions can be a challenge. However, the information we can glean from student questions is often essential to the framing and timing of our instruction. The questions can also give us important and timely clues about the needs and experiences of students that may be compromising their ability to learn and succeed in school and life.
In Your Corner, Student Learning
In Your Corner, Leadership and Change Management
In Your Corner, Leadership and Change Management
In Your Corner, Student Learning
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Share your story and the tips you have for getting through this challenging time. It can remind a fellow school leader of something they forgot, or your example can make a difficult task much easier and allow them to get more done in less time. We may publish your comments.
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Artificial intelligence can do many things, but it cannot lead—not in a classroom, not in a school, not in a district. Leadership is a complex, uniquely human behavior, and now is the time to really, truly lead.
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