Systems Thinking in Education: From Personal Sacrifice to Schoolwide Literacy Excellence

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Bonus for full subscribers: At the end of the printable version of this article (below), you will find a worksheet for planning out your own systems change for schoolwide literacy success. Thank you for your support! -Matt

It took a Lenten sacrifice to help me truly understand the relationship between the different dimensions of my health.

On March 5th, I decided to give up sweets for Lent. It might be the most common sacrifice I hear from other Catholics. I don't know what prompted me to pick sweets. Maybe the plate of cookies sitting on the counter at my educational service agency where I work, knowing I wouldn't have just one. Maybe it was the stubbornness of my weight, not wanting to get back down to an appropriate BMI. Also knowing that I wasn't doing myself any favors by enjoying sweets too much at my age, I decided to go for it.

This sacrifice felt sticky right away. Part of it, I think, is the community aspect of the practice. I know other people both near and far engaged in simi…