*Sorry I’m late with this week’s post…I’ve had a cold for the last week and have been trying to rest up to get through the week, but…I think I am on the mend now! :)*
Today’s chapter is on COMMITMENT.
‘Ordinary people with commitment can make an extraordinary impact on their world.’
During the summer of 1916 the city of New York was hit with a polio epidemic that left 27,000 people paralyzed and another 9,000 people–mostly children–dead. Every summer, people fled the cities to try an escape the polio epidemics. In 1948, a team of doctors at Harvard University discovered how to manufacture viruses in laboratories for the purposes of researching them.
Jonas Salk was raised by an immigrant family in the city of New York. He was witness to these epidemics and wanted to become a researcher to try to find a way to help people. As an adult he became a doctor and dedicated himself to researching viruses at the University of Pittsburgh. Four years after Harvard produced the polio virus, Dr. Salk and his team had developed a vaccine. Although they’d done some tests on people who had previously had polio and survived, the real test would be to infect people who had never HAD polio. In the summer of 1952, Dr. Salk inoculated healthy volunteers with his vaccine. Among those volunteers were his wife, and their three sons. That’s COMMITMENT!
The gamble paid off. In 1955, there were 28,985 cases of polio reported int eh United States. In 1956, that number was cut in half. By 1957, there were only 5,894. Thanks to men like Jonas Salk and the researchers that came after him and continued his work, polio is virtually non-existent in the United States.
Maxwell says that the team Salk was committed to was the ‘team of mankind’. Often we associate commitment with a feeling, but actually, Maxwell makes the case that this is a character quality. It’s something that we will learn to develop over time.
In the context of working in a team, Maxwell says a few things.
1.) Commitment is usually discovered in the middle of adversity.
Hello…can anyone say COMMON CORE? If your team has not yet discovered the ‘adversity’ that is common core…be prepared! It is coming. ๐ Our county purchased a reading series from Harcourt almost six years ago. The curriculum was aligned to the standards that we had then, but is no longer going to be as effective to teach reading to the depth that the common core requires. Before we adopted the common core standards, many of the teachers in our county were aware that Harcourt was no longer going to be the sole resource and that because we are adopting a new series at the end of this school year, we would have to create our own resources to meet common core expectations. At our first team meeting to discuss what we would do, I can tell you that as a group, we were pretty overwhelmed with how to make a largely unusable product usable. It was overwhelming and the desire to say…let’s just use it any way was looming…trust me. But…we created mini-teams…assigned tasks and got to work on creating resources for others to use that were aligned to common core because we have decided to be committed to the task at hand.
2.) Commitment does not depend on gifts or abilities.
‘Commitment and talent are unconnected unless you connect them.’ Don’t you know people who are very talented but seem not to get very far? Or maybe people that are less talented than you seeming to do better? Maxwell surmises that this has to to with their ability to commit to things more consistently. So, do what you can, when you can…and do it to the best of your ability.
3.) Commitment comes as the result of a choice not conditions.
I think this speaks for itself.
4.) Commitment lasts when it’s based on values.
This is key. Anytime you make choices based on solid life values, then you are in a better position to sustain your level of commitment because you don’t have to continually reevaluate its importance. So many teachers that I talk to are completely stressed out about how to deal with the changes that seem to constantly be on us…whether it’s the new evaluation model…or common core…or the news saying that public education stinks, send your kid to a charter school…teachers are just feeling the pinch. We’ve got to decide NOW what our non-negotiables are. Is it assessment…is it methodology…choose to adapt to one thing well. On our team as a whole, I would say that we’ve chosen to focus mainly on progress monitoring and assessment. In my classroom, I’ve decided that my goal is going to implement Kagan strategies. I am not going to re-invent the wheel and turn myself into a pretzel trying to do a million things because I’m going to end up being less successful. Think about what you value as an educator and commit to growing in THAT ONE AREA this year, rather than spreading yourself too thin.
SUMMING IT UP
Maxwell says that being committed involves a risk. It is possible that you might fail or that your team may let you down. Take the risk anyway! ๐ George Halas said, ‘Nobody who ever gave his best regretted it!’
He also encourages us to evaluate our teammates’ commitment. You can not make a commitment to uncommitted people and expect to receive a commitment from them. Hello?? YOU CAN NOT MAKE A COMMITMENT TO UNCOMMITTED PEOPLE AND EXPECT TO RECEIVE A COMMITMENT FROM THEM! Can I get an Amen?
Look, friends, can I get real for a minute? Some folks just don’t want to change. They will talk a good game, but when it really comes down to it…they will syphon off all of your best ideas so that they can seem to be part of the sweeping wind of change when they don’t even know what’s changing.
Some of you good folks may need to adopt a bit of the ‘Little Red Hen’ syndrome and stop giving your stuff away for free to folks who are not willing to put in the time and energy to learn what you are learning–probably on your own time, with very little encouragement aside from the little teacher voice in your head that compels you. I love a freebie as much as the next person…but…in the context of your team…if you’re producing full on units and are being handed worksheets that don’t align to the standards in return…someone is not committed. If you are creating resources to align to the common core and someone on your team says to you…what’s common core…look out…
If you’ve read this far…you’re the type that is willing to commit to making yourself a better teacher by collaborating with your peers…even if the collaboration only occurs online. Let’s continue to grow together this year, by encouraging one another to stay committed to working together to improve our practices! I look forward to reading your blogs and seeing how your commitment to your students is paying off in big ways! ๐
