This morning we kicked off our first day of our professional development week. Like most, I was still half in summer mode while simultaneously excited about a new group of kids. Our first order of business was to watch a TED Talk by Shawn Achor about the science of happiness (note: I'll embed a link to it later since I'm currently posting on the mobile app). The link is here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fLJsdqxnZb0&feature=youtube_gdata_player
My big takeaway from the video was about our conditioning. We see far more negatives- natural disasters, murders, failures, accidents- than we do positives. Because of that we have a warped idea of the world around us. This is coupled with the notion that we will be happy when we are successful. But what happens when you are successful? You want to go further, and the finish line is extended out. You condition yourself to think you were not good enough or successful enough. These ideas don't make you more successful, they actual make you less successful. Put simply: you are better able to think, create and perform when you are experiencing happiness (dopamine and other fun stuff).
How does apply to my classroom? I often think in the context of high expectations. But you can't forget to celebrate the small achievements, no matter the student. You've also got to be careful about the escalating goalposts. Instead of celebrating reaching a new reading level it shouldn't be "now let's keep going." It needs to be focused on that accomplishment. Even on the smaller level, I'm going to return to the "what was one thing that went well today/this week" and/or complimenting someone for something they did (or didn't) do. The end result might just be a happier, more "successful" group. What that success is we don't know yet.
