Books to Improve Your Life

The chaotic school year ended and I rolled right into teaching summer school and took a graduate class last week.  It's been so much of a whirl wind that my mind is spinning from all the things I want to do with the five weeks I have left.  One of the big things is finally conquering my summer reading list.  Just like my blog name, I am all about being motivated and inspired.  So when I have the time to read, I tend to pick books that will help me improve my life.

Recently, I came across this blog, Taking the Lid Off the Sun and was truly inspired by Alexis Ahren's post called Loves Place in the Classroom. 

"When I say I love my students, I mean that I am seeing them for who they truly are, appreciating and accepting them right there in that space. My love for them isn’t dependent on their cooperation or compliance. It’s not affected by their academic performance. Some take longer to get to know than others, and so it follows that some take longer to love than others, but love comes … always. "

Seriously, click on the link above and read more because it's truly inspiring.  Last week I spent time in a special education class and having a lot of discussions with other teachers about students with all types of disabilities including learning disabilities, ADHD, Autism and social, emotional or behavior disorders.  I've always connected to these types of students and I think its because of what Alexis mentions.  I see them for who they truly are and love them no matter what.  From the athlete to the rocker, from the skateboarder to the hippie, to the kid that sat in the back of the room with his hoodie over his head, I try my best to get to know them all.  And you know what, I think my students know it because I'll get that email once in a blue moon from an alumni or a hug after a semester is over - there is nothing better.

Now let's fast forward a week after reading Alexis' blog and I'm sitting in my grad class.  I come across information about social emotional learning during my class research.  I've always felt like life skills should be taught in schools and just came across how this is a growing movement.  I teach in Illinois and didn't even realize that my own state has adopted learning standards for this area.  Check out Casel, Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning website that gives more information on this topic.  Also during my research I came across information about Daniel Goleman who has brought this topic to the forefront from his book Emotional Intelligence.  I'm hoping to read this and his book Primal Leadership with hopes its something I can integrate into the Management & Leadership class I teach.

Also on my summer book list is a recommendation Alexis mentioned - Unconditional Parenting by Alfie Kohn.  This book is about what kids need and how we can meet those needs vs. how we can we get kids to do what they are told.  He feels that praise and rewards do more harm than good.  About 70 pages into it I can already see some parallels betten Kohn's book and Daniel Pink's Drive where Pink talks about how the carrot and stick doesn't work (rewards) for long term motivation.

Have you read these any of these books? I'm looking forward to having conversations on these books.  (

(Be on the look out for more posts relating to these topics and books)

Stop Blaming Your Environment - Create it!

Purpose, Motivation, and Choice - three topics I'm really passionate about so when I read Ryan Bretag's recent post on Metanoia it really lit a fire in me.  I urge you to read his thoughts that were sparked from Seth Godin's post "Are you doing a good job." We've been discussing topics such as these in the high school Management & Leadership class I teach so I posed Ryan's question to my students and I did some personal reflection as well.

PURPOSE:
Godin's post connects with Daniel Pink's research and how he states "What's your question?" I agree with Godin that people need to think about their mission. Does it tie into what they are doing in their environment? If there isn't a connection, are we truly going to be happy? This is the exact reason I changed careers from advertising sales to teaching and again connects with one of Daniel Pink's big mentions in his book Drive, you have to have "Purpose."

MOTIVATION:
My Management & Leadership students discussed the questions Bretag posed on his blog and here’s a google doc from our classroom discussion. We read, discussed and every student participated in an engaging discussion.   It was very inspiring to see students connect their thoughts from previous discussions (including various management/leadership philosophies and 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens by Sean Covey). The students' ideas could fit any organization including business and education. From a room of 22 high school students, three main ideas came from our discussion.

Focus on making things fun and challenging : Create an engaging environment

Focus on the people: Truly listen to the needs of your stakeholders

Focus on being happy: Connect to the purpose

CHOICE:
On Bretag’s post I commented, “When are we going to stop blaming the environment and start creating it? My motto is to live better, do better and just be better. It's all about choice and the perspective we take. I agree with you, as leaders, isn't it our job to motivate and inspire others to be better? I think as leaders we can help our colleagues or students see they have a choice in their perspective and providing them with opportunities to create and fulfill these ideas.”

After writing this comment on Bretag's blog and then having my classroom discussion, I was hoping to see my students make more of a connection with the idea that each person has the choice of the way they view their environment.  As Bretag mentions, “When I’m bored, I start doing the job” but I was hoping to hear more individuals turn this statement around and take ownership of their life. When I posed the question to my students “what motivates you?” (see google doc for all responses) one female student stated it best – “BEING BORED.”  And while that was a great beginning connection that was made, it wasn't followed through with the rest of our motivation and leadership discussion.  We need to take ownership for ourselves, be empowered and change our perspective.  We need to stop blaming others for our environment and know that we have the power to create it ourselves.





At the same time, as leaders we need to provide opportunities and a better environment to help people create!  I’m truly inspired by the leaders of the Glenbrook High School District in which I work.  Dr. Michael Riggle and Ryan Bretag show  how leaders build a foundation for their staff and their students to provide choice and growth in their organization.

What have leaders done in your organization to create a better environment? What motivates you? Do you have a take a ownership perspective or a blame others mentality?  Let's challenge ourselves and our environment - Let's play a part in our community and our organizations - And in the end, we will create amazing things.

(Image: ENVIRONMENT, a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial (2.0) image from Enokson's photostream)

A Teacher's Drive to Student Motivation

I'm still trying to uncover the secrets to motivation with my students.  My management & leadership class is a new prep for me this semester.  I've taken the old curriculum which includes units on personal management using the 7 Habits for Highly Effective Teens and units on management functions, leadership, communication, case studies and ethics.  This year I decided to launch a student-run business out of the class so we are using  Market Day for the business model because there's no inventory and customers can purchase product online which makes it a turn-key business for us.  I could provide anyone with more details and pro/cons of using Market Day but my focus here is the journey of discovering what motivates my students.

Last semester we had issues of lack of motivation primarily because students didn't feel connected to the cause.  For me, I thought the learning opportunity and the experience they gain to put on their resume was the big BLING for doing Market Day at all.  The students got to make decisions on marketing, customer service and gain real life experience - how much better can it get.  LEARNING BY DOING.  But there were a lot of other things that played into it.  Students wanted to make money themselves....I could go off on a tangent of the teen generation but that's really for another blog post.  So despite my talks with my students about the rewards of their hard work, they really didn't seem to care.  I've been reading Daniel Pink's book, Drive and I'm seeing now some problems that I did first semester - mainly the carrot and the stick.  I offered prizes and incentives but in the end it was just a short term band-aid for the problem. And by the end of the semester the hardworking motivated students where so discouraged by the other half of students, everyone gave up.

One month into second semester:  Here's my REFLECTION: 

• The start of the semester is to jam packed with the 7 Habits Sean Covey book and starting the student-run business
• I need to reevaluate using the Sean Covey book.  Some of the students feel that it is common sense and the stories are for a younger audience.  CONSIDER USING THE STEVEN COVEY BOOK OR LETTING STUDENTS PICK A SELF-MANAGEMENT BOOK OF THEIR CHOICE.
• Business organization charts includes a student President, and managers that run two marketing departments, an operations department and a finance department. 
• NEW: The student president has been a great addition to the org chart this semester.  David is helping provide valuable feedback and help the group stay organized.
• NEW: Rotating managers every 2-3 weeks versus every month. 
• Each month each student will do a reflection on the business - what worked, what didn't, how to improve, what did they learn.
• NEW: after the manager is done with their rotation they will do a reflection paper as well.
• NEW: When students are discouraged about lack of motivation I am explaining the Team goals and not emphasizing short term "carrot and stick" incentives and explaining why.
• NEW: We've spent a class preparing a one-month department plan including their goals.  The next class they work on executing the plan.  Students seemed to have more direction and motivation in completing their goals.
• NEW: Incorporated manager meetings to help with planning and to help provide managers with experience and opportunities to discuss concerns.  This gives me the opportunity to have those teachable moments and discuss concepts of motivation

To address one of my reflections above, do you have a book you would recommend relating to management, self-management, leadership or motivation that would be engaging for high school students?