#CelebrateMonday
Monday, October 29, 2018
I hope you all enjoyed a beautiful weekend!
Today is a good day to be thinking about the positive intentions - while Monday can sometimes feel like a burden, as the first day of the school week it can only be filled with positive intentions!
When we have a run-in with a parent, a teacher, or even with someone outside of our professional lives, it can be very difficult to assume that he or she is coming from a place of good intent.
In the Teaching and Learning Department, assuming positive intent is one of our norms. For us this means that when someone in our department says something that we may feel is a complaint, is negative, or is in opposition of what we think or feel, we take a deep breath and assume they are coming from a place of positive intent - not ill or negative intent.
Since we do so much coaching in our department (not unlike administrators in a school building), we need to assume that when teachers aren't doing what we are asking them to do or doing it the way we ask them to do it, or when they seem to have complaints about things, or when they question everything that they are truly coming from a place of positive intent. It is so rare that teachers "complain," or ignore requests, or question practices out of malicious intent.
George Couros, author of The Innovator's Mindset, shared some thoughts about assuming positive intent with parents, teachers, and students. He definitely inspired today's #CelebrateMonday message!
If a parent calls to complain about a student's grade in a class, it can be so easy for us to assume that the parent just wants us to do whatever we can to make sure the student has an A in every class. However, if we can step back from the situation and work to assume positive intent, may we will discover that the parent is really more concerned about the student's progress and areas of struggles rather than the actual grade. That's something beneficial and something we can work with!
The key is to have a support network or a strong tribe to help you! When you are going down that road of assuming malicious intent in a situation, call upon that person or that group of people to help you work through it! Allow them to push back on your thinking and to challenge you to see the situation in a positive light. We all need this because there will be times when, after assuming positive intent 4,238,629,000 times, we'll need the encouragement and support to assume positive intent one more time!
Start by assuming that Monday has great and positive intent for you today!
And just by doing that you're likely to make this the best Monday of the week!
Cheers!