Strategies for Literacy and Life
Newsletter
Welcome to my weekly round up, which includes a brief post and recommended reading and resources. This week we examine strategies for successful experiences with literacy, leadership and life. Enjoy this site? Let your friends know.
Ganbatte!
I emailed my tai chi teacher to let him know that I wouldn’t be attending class while we were in virtual-only mode for school. His response:
“Thanks for the heads up...just keep breathing naturally and find the horizon line once in a while. Ganbatte!”
Googling “ganbatte”, I learned it is a Japanese term that means “good luck” and “do your best”. This attitude is also a larger part of the Japanese culture. People encourage one another to keep going in spite of challenges and obstacles.
Ganbatte sounds nice, but we also need strategies. Determination and will power only take us so far.
In my conversations with teams and individuals this fall, one of the recurring challenges is the amount of work we are experiencing. Teachers are reporting staying up well into the night, checking email and responding to students’ posts online.
What can we let go of? How do we determine what’s a priority? One strategy for finding focus is the “Five Whys” protocol. It comes from the Japanese auto industry. To determine what’s most important, they ask themselves “why” five times for an activity they engage in. Here is a hypothetical example for facilitating book clubs:
Why? Book clubs are what I did when teaching in-person.
Why? Because the students enjoy talking about what they are reading.
Why? By talking about what they are reading, they are constructing deeper understanding about the text.
Why? Book clubs are not the only way to develop comprehension skills…
Why? Class discussion with shared reading and individual or partner conferences are also effective.
Going through this process, I might come to see that book clubs, while engaging, are not the only way to develop better readers, which is our larger purpose. Maybe I prioritize shared reading in Zoom lessons for efficiency sake, and book clubs are led more by the students asynchronously, such as through a discussion board.
Wishing one good luck and creating our own luck are two different things. I hope in your preparation for next week, you continue to rethink what your intentions are and find novel solutions to our unique challenge.
Ganbatte!
Recommended Reading and Resources
An effective strategy for life: knowing when to let go. I followed this advice by closing down my blog. I’ll continue to write in this space and elsewhere.
Related, check out The Dip by Seth Godin. A short, helpful guide on productivity and knowing when to persist vs. when to quit.
On the newsletter I spoke with Jethro Jones about design thinking for leaders, as well as posted my first of nine writing tips for the Educators as Writers series.
Evernote, a productivity application, has made significant updates. It is a favorite tool of mine for capturing ideas and artifacts for later research and reflection.
Currently reading: Trust Matters: Leadership for Successful Schools by Megan Tschannen-Moran. This is part of my research for my upcoming book on coaching leadership. Trust Matters is rich with research and anecodates.
A favorite quote so far:
“Trust matters most in situations of interdependence, in which the interests of one party cannot be achieved without reliance on another. Interdependence brings with it vulnerability.” (p. 20)
Take care,
Matt
P.S. What important lesson have you learned from a coach, in any field? I will be posting this inquiry early next week as a discussion thread on the newsletter. Can’t wait? Feel free to share now below.