Positive Thinking

Barbara McSwain
Jan 12, 2009

 Mary Kay Ash, owner of Mary Kay Cosmetics once said, "If you think you can, you can. And if you think you can't you're right!" That quote is the essence of positive thinking. Often, when we are asked to change, we are initially blinded by negative thinking. 
 
Negative thinking dooms one to say, "I'll never be able to use Collaborative Pairs because it won't work for me", or "I could never really plan a lesson that lasts for 2-3 days!" My reply is always the same, "Why not?" There is no reason why you cannot be a great Learning-Focused teacher or administrator. 
 
In order to think positively, the first thing that we must address is motivation. When we find ourselves not achieving and unwilling to change, we may want to ask the question that Dr. Phil poses to guests on his show, "How is that working for you?" Next ask yourself, "Am I willing to learn a few new researched and evidence based strategies?" If the answer is "yes," then let us start with the top five learning strategies that students need to use to raise achievement.
 
The first time that I attended a Learning-Focused workshop, I thought, "I can do this! I can plan collaboratively for students to have the opportunity to use the following strategies:


The Learning-Focused unit/lesson framework affords the opportunities for students to connect these strategies. The result in achievement gains is the multiplier effect, because the strategies are not being used in isolation.
 
I began to see student engagement increase. Once the students were more motivated to learn, they began to achieve at higher levels. When the students who had not previously performed at high levels experienced success, I began to know that these strategies work! I wanted to learn more about what the research was saying! Success breeds success. It was important to learn more about the Exemplary Practices that were in place in schools/districts that were experiencing high achievement in a climate of high accountability. The 36 evaluators that went into these schools looked for patterns. Learning-Focused addresses each of these in the Learning-Focused workshops.


The school that I was working with began to meet success "head on." It was a thrilling experience in a school that had not experienced success for a number of years. 
 
I noticed that the most successful classrooms were where teachers had not allowed irrational thoughts of not succeeding to enter into their team planning sessions. They never spoke negatively about themselves or their students. Their attitude was that "you must believe in yourself and give yourself permission to be successful." We are living in a remarkable time.  Enough research has been done to allow us to know "how children learn." It is our privilege to implement the research! If we do, the sky is the limit of what our students will be able to accomplish.

According to http://www.marykaytribute.com/HerLife1.htm : "Mary Kay grew her dream from a small direct sales company to the largest direct seller of skin care and color cosmetics in the United States. Accordingly, Fortune Magazine recognized her company with inclusion in "The 100 Best Companies to Work for in America", and also named Mary Kay one of the 10 best companies for women. The company today includes more than 800,000 Independent Beauty Consultants in 37 markets on five continents."
 
I believe through the implementation of Learning-Focused that we can grow our classrooms into "world class" learning environments where all children have the opportunity to achieve.