jL - Week in Practice - Shut my mouth/Coil the ropes

Hey Everyone!

Here is a quick Sunday night musing about what I’m focusing on this week.

In the classroom - Shut My Mouth: The last week of school brings a myriad of emotions and a significant number of logistical challenges.  Couple that with an environment where both students (and some staff) have a casual (at best) relationship with school expectations, and things are bound to get weird.  Even the best kids can push our buttons. 

More often than I’d like to admit, the first thing I want to say is NOT the last thing I want them to remember about me or their experience in our program.  So (after almost 50 years), I’ve started to take mom’s advice and shut my mouth.  I think back to the behavior of a certain, smart-mouthed horn player thirty years ago this week.  I’m more than confident that his teachers, in an attempt to protect his fragile ego, resisted the urge to say what might have made them feel better in that moment. I honor them by attempting to do the same. (We lost touch after high school…wonder whatever happened to that kid 😂).

Behind the scenes - Coil the Ropes: In the exhaustion of the home stretch it is easy to think ‘just toss it in the corner and we’ll figure it out in August.’  While this feels fabulous in the moment, too often it dramatically decreases efficiency and increases stress when we return for the next school year.  Instead I focus on ‘coiling the ropes.’  I think I was introduced to the concept from one of my absolute favorite Jim Collins interviews (listen here). The intent is to be deliberate in the finish in an effort to maximize efficiency in the future.  

Remember:  while many may not know how to express it (some don’t even fully understand the gravity of it yet), you made a dramatic impact on kids this year.  Thank you - enjoy the break; you deserve it!

Let me know how I can help - have an AMAZING week!

Jeff