Can't sleep. Susan's on my mind. She's hurting. Don't want to go to
China and leave my "angel in disguise." Struggling not to be a hypocrite and
live the Johnny Mercer's lyrics sung by Bing Crosby and the Andrew Sisters in
1945: "You've got to accentuate the positive; eliminate the negative; And
latch on to the affirmative....You've got to spread joy up to the maximum;
bring gloom down to the minimum...." That's also how we help students learn
that it's okay to make mistakes and how critical it is to learn from those
mistakes. Of course, we have to learn that ourselves. Until we do, there
will be little or no joy in Mudville. And, until there is joy, there won't be
much of a life, few eyes open to opportunities, little enthusiasm, lots of
negativity, lots of misery, and less achievement--much less meaningful
achievement.
Let's talk about the students, but really also talk about ourselves.
It's actually a matter of how students see themselves. I read their daily
journals, about 120 a day; I talk a lot with a lot of them; I read their body
language and facial expressions. I help many of them with their academic and
non-academic issues: the relentless pressure to perform; the mistaken belief
that "grades oft proclaim the man;" backs against the wall; cramming; sleep
deprived; afraid; holes burned in dreams; on the defensive; harried;
subserviently insecure; lots of "cowardice" and little boldness; in a frenetic
race; feeling they have no life; wasting time and energy worrying; senses on
full alert as if some predator is in the vicinity about to pounce on them. It
all goes under the name of FEAR! They so often are fighting against
themselves, discouraged, making themselves miserable, and undermining their own
potential. Think I'm exaggerating? Not if you read student journals every
day as I do.
It doesn't have to be that way. The secret is to catch the positive
energy that transforms stumbling blocks into stepping stones. But, how? How
do we help push forward rather than hold back? There's the rub, as the Bard
would say. Teresa Amabile talks of helping to generate "positive feelings."
Carol Dweck' offers insights into "the right kind of praise" and the need to
foster a "growth-mind-set." Ed Deci's offering is autonomy, ownership, and
connection. Daniel Goleman's suggestion is to help students develop their
"social intelligence" and "emotional intelligence." Martin Seligman talks of
boosting resilience. Richard Boyatzis requires we become "resonant leaders."
Mihali Csíkszentmihályi wants us to help students learn how to go with what he
calls "the flow."
They are all slices of the same pie: getting to the soul of education,
running a humanistic institution that knows it's in the people business,
teaching to the whole person we call a student. The latest brain-based
research is attuning us to the larger reality. We're all learning from the
latest "brainology,'--or, we should be--that the brain it is like a muscle—the
more anyone exercises it, the stronger it becomes. Every time anyone works hard
and learns something new, the brain forms new connections that, over time,
makes that person "smarter." That is, intellectual, social, and emotional
growth and achievement is largely in anyone's hands. These few prominent
researchers I've mentioned, then, all agree in one way or another that three
qualities can turn adversity into advantage. The first is boundless hope.
That is, a positive perspective on ourselves and others; don't think of any
mistake as final; think there is more to come; don't take making a mistake
personal; don't let making a mistake be a discouraging, momentum stopper.
Second, don't waste the mistake. Reflect on it in order to discover the lesson
within and let that knowledge be a guide to later and better efforts. And
finally, persevere. Try, try, try again; just be wiser each time. Make no
mistake; it's easier said than done, for habits formed over years generally
don't disappear overnight.
Yet, if we can start doing that for ourselves, if, to paraphrase
Aristotle, we can help students start entertaining a mistake without accepting
it, if we can help them listen to a mistake without losing self-confience, if
we can offer such "roadside assistance," we will have helped start developing
our and their social and emotional intelligences in order to "accentuate the
positive; eliminate the negative." I know. It's a lot of "ifs." One last
"if." If we have the faith, hope, belief, and love, as Rumi said, if we can
"Borrow the Beloved's eyes," we'll "look through them and you'll see the
Beloved's face everywhere." Then, "things you have hated will become helpers."
That's what we need to do; that's what students need to do. When that
happens, that's when the magic begins and miracles start occurring.
Make it a good day
-Louis-
Louis Schmier
http://www.therandomthoughts.edublogs.org
Department of History http://www.therandomthoughts.com
Valdosta State University
Valdosta, Georgia 31698 /\ /\ /\ /\
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(O) 229-333-5947 /^\\/ \/ \ /\/\__ / \ /
\
(C) 229-630-0821 / \/ \_ \/ / \/ /\/ / \
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//\/\/ /\ \__/__/_/\_\/
\_/__\ \
/\"If you want to climb
mountains,\ /\
_ / \ don't practice on mole
hills" - / \_
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