Wednesday, March 1, 2017

Sharks will either make you better....or eat you. (a repost)


Fishing boats will often travel for days and days to find that prize catch. The problem they encountered was, when traveling 3-4 days back to unload their catch, their prize fish were no longer valuable. They spent so much time floating around in their little container, swimming in the same waters, they lost their muscle tone. Stagnant. Complacent. In a rut. This is how we have always done things.

So fisherman started adding sharks to the tanks in the boats. Sure, a few fish were eaten, but the rest stayed active and alive. Adding sharks improved their success.

Admin: Hire sharks. Anyone can join the pack, follow in line, do what the others do. But NO ONE IMPROVES. We need to hire employees that will challenge and extend our teams.

Teachers: change things up, for you and your students. Routines are valuable, but are they routine because it's easy for you, or are they routines that still challenge students. How many times during the school day do you make your students uncomfortable by challenging their thinking? How many times a day are you challenged, chased by a shark?

Parents: there are good "sharks" you can throw into the mix: engaging and fun summer learning programs; academic rewards for students making academic gains (ex. if they read a book, their reward is you buy them a new book, or check out a new book from the library); find ways to challenge your child to get them outside of their comfort zones. It's good for them.

I'm both a stick and a carrot guy. Sharks would work great for me. But I also like having that reward dangling for me to work towards. Find what your team needs, what your students need, what your child needs. But whatever it is they need to be motivated, you need to motivate them.

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