Hope

This week, I wanted to write a bit about hope. In our profession, we often see things that give us pause. For me, during the pause, my brain trails off into a thought about hope. How do we inspire it? How is it lost? How does it fuel us? Though I may have some answers, I will not offer them. I will simply allude to the obvious, that hope is the force that fuels us all, but it is not the blueprint. It is a powerful force in education. I see it like the midi-clorians that make up ‘The Force’ in Star Wars. The more you have, the more powerful your potential. Like hope, it is intangible but real, potent but not able to be held in your hand. Unfortunately, just like in Star Wars, we can’t simply hope to beat Darth Vader. Hope is part of the motivation, but it is not a strategy. Our job as educators is to work with hope daily. Just as misery likes  company, hope loves an audience. As a parent, I learned early on that hope is not the plan, but the push. Not the physical push, but the mental. As a coach for many years for Cross Country and Track and Field, I often asked my student/athletes to go beyond what they had done before. I talked to them about how the hard work will pay off at championships. I would give them the ‘tough love’ that we cannot rely on hope because hope is not a strategy. This phrase is one that I have used countless times before. In schools, we cannot wait for test scores with fingers crossed to see if our students did well. We have to meticulously plan for their success and when it happens, it is not a surprise. We planned for it. To base our outcomes on hope alone would be ridiculous. We cannot sit back and wait for things to turn around on their own, and we can’t spend our days with crossed fingers expecting results. Hope without action is just wishing in disguise. We’re here to make real change, not wait for it. Our students deserve it. Our parents expect it. When we add proper planning and execution with hope, that is when the real magic happens in the classroom. Every lesson plan, discipline strategy, and classroom rule is a layer of action. Hope is what fuels our energy to take that action, but the structure we build with our plans is what holds it up. For educators, this means getting clear on your goals. You’ve got standards, you’ve got common formative assessments, you’ve got every acronym known to man. Choose the right strategies that will get your students from Point A to Point B. When you have meticulous planning, hope becomes part of the atmosphere. It’s real, and it’s what we’re doing every day. With hope, we all know there is a time limit associated. We never want our students to lose hope. I would not wish that on anyone. Therefore, begin taking steps to fuel a brighter future. The flickering flame of hope can be fanned into a bonfire with on-time planning. Just remember, no one ever won a battle, taught a classroom, or ran a school on hope alone. I hope you enjoy your weekend. With amazing weather, enjoy the outdoors but most of all, be restful! (cue Beethoven - Moonlight Sonata).

Until next time...