Ready To Launch

We did it. We officially launched our college kids back to their senior year and sophomore year respectively. And we survived without too many tears. Now it's time for us here in Friendswood to launch into the 2014-2015 school year.

Covey wisdom, beginning with the end in mind, coupled with an idea from Autumn Bockart, a loving sixth-grade teacher at Friendswood Junior High. She adapted the inquiry from Linda Ellis' poignant poem The Dash between our birth and our death. We all get to write the story of our dash, every day. And when our students come to us seeking guidance with their dash, we get to help them find and unleash their powers to navigate learning and maximize flight. How awesome is that?

Kind of reminds me of the new Lita Judge book Flight School.

Some of your students will come to you looking like this, an awkward but eager little penguin, showing up to flight school, determined to take wing and fly. 

Just listen to this beautiful exchange from the opening page:

"But you, dear, are a penguin," Teacher replied.

"Undeniable," said Penguin, "but I have the soul of an eagle."

What will it take to change the fixed mindset that says once a penguin, always a penguin? What do you need to do to empower those passionate penguins to take flight and soar? How do we reframe our look at flying if/when they don't get off the ground with quite as much ease or finesse as the eagles do? And maybe not at all? Discuss the maxim: If at first you don't succeed, try, try again. What does that mean? When were those words meaningful to you personally? What was that experience like and what did you learn? Is it ever okay to recalculate your route? When? How? What if it means letting go of your dreams?

More brilliance from the book:

Penguin was right. He did have the soul of an eagle. He just needed a little help with the technical parts. 

As we head into this year's dash, don't our little birds deserve to see their potential as eagles, not their limitations as penguins? We must take our role as flight instructors to assist and support them with "the technical parts" seriously. How will you grow your mindset so that they have permission to grow theirs? What an amazing opportunity lies ahead as we launch into a new year.