November 2019 Newsletter
Why are bad habits so easily developed? We don’t intentionally teach them to our children. When we see them in our children we typically look at our spouse and say they must have gotten that one from you. Sometimes we cringe at them because we clearly see ourselves. (We may look at our spouse and lip, “I’m sorry”).
There is great power in building positive habits. While in a classroom during the second week of October, I observed one of our teachers begin to teach the students how to successfully build a habit. This teacher was teaching the students how to reflect. It made me think on how did I learn to reflect?
For a few years my two hour drive to work certainly gave me the time to reflect. But it wasn’t then that I learned the skill. Then I thought back to when I was a head football coach and remembered all the reflection I did daily and at the end of every year. But it wasn’t then that I learned it either. Then I thought about the many times my father taught me to consider why I did something when I was growing up. That was the earliest I could remember having to reflect. I did not understand the importance of reflection just the consequences of my actions. But, it was the groundwork that was laid for me to build on the skill of reflection and the importance.
My day is probably similar to most people. I wake up, get dressed, read, eat breakfast, make my wife her oatmeal, kiss her goodbye, and then head to school.
I spend time in meetings, building relationships with our students and staff, and managing what takes place throughout the day at school. Then I head home, eat supper with my wife, go for a walk, watch one episode of Heartland, and then head to bed.
Our student’s lives might look very similar to ours, except they seldom have a choice in what they get to do throughout the day. Every 45 minutes throughout the day they are changing classes. They get a little down time at lunch, but for the most part we are telling them what they are thinking every minute of the school day. Do we ever give them a moment to really reflect on what took place throughout their day?
If we teach our children to build in the ability to reflect everyday, either by journaling, speaking with friends and family members, or just taking the time to think while they are relaxing, this would open up a new world of possibilities for our children. We do not want them to just go through the motions of playing life we want them to excel at life. We need them to be conscious of what steps to take to become the best version of themselves on their road to success.
I observed this teacher later in the month not only assisting the students in the class on how to reflect, but gave them the time to reflect, supported them, and then praised them on their reflections. These are the first steps in our children being able to own their choices and then which of these choices do they want to advance as they plot out their futures.
I want to thank and give credit to Charles Duhigg and his book “The Power of Habit”. He describes keystone habits as, “small changes or habits that people introduce into their routines that unintentionally carry over into other aspects of their lives.”
Principal Bill Hass
