Inspirational Video: Every Opportunity

I won't be spending a lot of time on a message today. I've got a sick kiddo that is keeping me super busy. Instead, I want to share a video with you.

Positive Vocabulary

On the first day of school last week, I shared a funny video with everybody. Quite a few people mentioned that they liked the video, but I didn't like how I introduced it. Here's how my email started: 

If today isn't as magical as you envisioned, just watch this video, be thankful that you work in a middle school, and laugh a little. Laughter relieves stress.

What's wrong with this statement? If you didn't spot it immediately, the problem is that this statement makes the assumption that their dreams of a positive first day will be shattered, and they'll need a funny video to cheer them up at the end of the day. That's a pretty sad starting point for a video that was supposed to make them smile!

I had good intentions, of course... but even with good intentions, I managed to start the day with a message to the whole staff that started on a negative note. Now, I'm not trying to poo poo the video itself, or even the email, but I could have done a much better job of presenting it with a positive spin.

What I want to point out today is that a small change in vocabulary can completely change the way people receive your message. This is true across the board, from advertising, to classroom management, to casual conversations.

I had a professor in college who required a lot of presentations, and asked us to critique one another after every single one. It was really awkward at first, but she insisted that we never use any negative vocabulary to describe another student's presentation. For anything that we normally would have described in a negative light, we had to use the phrase "room for growth." That change alone made it really easy to give feedback without feeling like you were hurting someone, and really easy to receive feedback without feeling judged... and all it took was changing a couple words!

Think about how much many more positive reactions you would receive from your friends, family, and students if you found just one commonly used negative word in your vocabulary and changed it to something more positive.

I'm going to focus this week on eliminating that assumption of a negative outcome. I do that too much, and I need to try to cut that out of the statements I make. How about you? If you're stuck, here are some ideas. Just look for words you find yourself using often, and replace them with words that have a more positive spin!

Back to School: Five Things to Do on Day One

Welcome back, everybody!

For those of you who are new here, this is my Monday Morning Counselor Message. I try to avoid "business" in these messages, so my colleagues will never find any meeting invitations or announcements in these messages. What they do find, and what I hope you will find as I post them here, are useful tools, personal stories, inspiring quotes, cheesy humor, and whatever else I can think of that will get your week started on a positive note. Regardless of content, you'll usually find these posted first thing Monday morning... but today is a holiday, and I decided to sleep in instead of writing. I hope you understand. Now, on to the real reason you're here.

Today's topic is the first day of school. No, not Harry Wong's book, although that's not a bad read. What I actually want to share is a short list of things to think about as you plan for your first day back. As I started putting this list together, I kept thinking, "These are silly suggestions! Everybody knows these!" But of course, knowing something and remembering it when it's important are two totally different things. I can't tell you the number of times I've slapped my forehead after the answer to a trivia question was revealed (some of us call that a facepalm). In any case, if these are standard practice for you already, just pretend that I'm not insulting your intelligence. And if they aren't, at least give them some consideration!