Thoughts & Prompts
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Start each meeting with a Focus on You. It is an enduring meeting protocol that helps you hear from everyone and is an easy way to find out how people are practicing what they do well. Make it something positive. Shine a spotlight on what is going well that we might not always discuss in meetings. (Don't call them icebreakers - it's more than that). Here are some time-tested ways to listen to important highlights from each participant.
Share a recent success or What are you doing today that your future self will be proud of? or Describe a recent thank you or compliment you received. What did you contribute to that situation that was needed?
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Practicing hope science is “taking your future for a test drive.” I recently worked with a group of 9th grade students and had them write a note to their future self about how they would use one of their strengths. One student dated it for the very next day, and we laughed about how that is, indeed, also the future.
A wonderful resource to use all throughout the year is https://www.futureme.org
This site enables you to send yourself a note that will be emailed to you at some point in the future. It could be a great activity for students at the end of one grade level to send their future selves a note (perhaps to their next year's teacher?) about how they will bring their unique talent to the next grade. This assignment can be used at many age and grade levels. It brings intentionality to how we aim our best selves towards our dreams and goals.
Here's a question you might pose to anyone as you are working together to help students land in their best life.
What are you doing now that your future self will be proud of?
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Author Kate Bowler interviewed Gary Haugen, CEO of International Justice Mission, about how hard it is to keep caring about someone else’s pain when we aren’t caring well for ourselves. Gary’s remedy for compassion fatigue is joy. “Joy,” he says, “is the oxygen for doing hard things in the world.”
What's a moment of joy you were part of recently? How did it help to keep you inspired?
