My new favorite word: Attitude

I chose the title of my blog to be, It's not what you SAY, it's what you DO that counts, because I felt like the beginning of my administrative career was a lot of talking and I am ready to put things in to action. However, as a beginning administrator I sometimes let my attitude towards things get in my way.  I am easily frustrated when people resist change, I become disgruntled over student issues that are out of my control, and I sometimes find myself losing focus of what is great about working in education thus giving me a poor attitude.

Attitude is a word of power.  Attitude is important. Attitude is a choice. Attitude is everything.

Attitude is quickly becoming my new favorite word.  Each morning we wake up to several factors that will help determine our mood, our mindset......our attitude for the day. So much of the work we do in education relies on leaders and staff having the right attitude. When we relish the fact that our attitude can truly be a game changer, we can make great things happen for young people.  A few recent events have re-established clarity for me on the importance of having the right attitude.

Our weekly Tuesday afternoon admin team meetings often become a time for the four of us to vent about the struggles that come with being an educational administrator.  We are not unlike many admin teams in this aspect. However, we also make a concentrated effort to focus on student problems and not adult problems, complaining about our adult problems does not really jive with our goals for educational progress in our district.  Recently, we were then introduced to A Complaint Free World from international best selling author Will Bowen and his message on living a transformational life.  I simplified his message rather quickly: There are a lot of forms of complaints and complainers, so frankly.....don't complain.  He even sells wristbands and challenges listeners to a 21-day complaint free challenge, something my cynical self would see as just a gimmick.  Nonetheless, being the competitive-by-nature admin that we are, we bought the wristbands and began our quest. Thanks to that message we make a concentrated efforts to establish the right attitude about things happening in our district. An timely attitude adjustment we sometime need.

One thing I can say for sure, since being introduced to Mr. Bowen's message, I have had a particular interest in observing how attitude impacts our daily efforts in education.

I recently attended the Iowa 1:1 Institute in Des Moines, and my big takeaways from the two days did not have as much to do with gaining more ideas for technology integration then I previously expected.  My big takeaways centered around changing my attitude and the attitude of people around me about tech integration in our district.  Each session offered information on effective teaching strategies, new devices, important programs, or other aspects of educational tech. We are not blessed at Wapsie Valley with a lot of tech resources and certainly not a part or full-time tech integrationist. However, talk to any of the presenters or educators at the conference that are seeing things happen in their schools (big or small) and you will quickly understand why, they have the right attitude about it.  They overcome the lack of money, resources, time, etc. because they see the importance of tech to their students learning.  If that wasn't enough, Patrick Larkin lead off the conference with a strong message. Larkin explained how when teachers, students, and stakeholders changed their attitudes about what technology could do for their students, great things happened in his district.

We use the "You just need to have a better attitude," speech constantly when we talk to our young people.  At Wapsie Valley we use, The Warrior Way, to communicate and promote the cultural values within our school.  We have had great success with The Warrior Way campaign mostly because our kids have embraced it as our school's "attitude." We have slowly changed their behaviors which has changed their attitudes.  Be Respectful, Be Responsible, Be Kind, Be Safe, and Always Do Your Best has led to some great chatter in our hallways.

I recently attended a short workshop over a popular curriculum, Character Development and Leadership created by Dr. Joseph Hoedel for teaching character education and leadership in schools. The presenter a retiring teacher and coach was explaining one of the final assessments for the course.  Students had to pick their favorite word from a list of 17 words pertaining to character and leadership in which the class is centered around.  The first of the 17 key words presented in the curriculum:  Attitude.  When asked to write about their favorite word from the class, the most popular selection:  Attitude.  They seem to strengthen the fact that it truly does begin and end with attitude.

I suppose now would be a proper time to cite my favorite book about the power of having the right attitude, but we have all read the books, heard the speeches, and listened to the advice. Yet too often, we choose to let our attitudes get in our way in education.  We resist change, we struggle with uncontrollable issues, and we lose focus as we drag our feet looking for easy answers.

As a leader in our district, I see the negative impact of poor attitudes from time to time. Perhaps now with my new found clarity, I can better embrace the fact that my attitude can shape the attitude of many people around me. After all it begins and end with me.