Years ago, I read a book called How Full Is Your Bucket while I was attending graduate school for my administrative services credential. Although it wasn’t technically an “education” book, it was probably one of my favorite books of my master’s degree program. In this book, the author talked about the “magic ratio” of positive and negative moments that make up a person’s day. Essentially, the ratio is a 5:1 where it takes five positive moments to combat the one negative moment. Five to one…This means that four positive moments are outweighed by one negative moment in the day. It means that only at five positive moments do we break even with the one negative moment.

The magic ratio has been weighing heavily on my heart and mind this week.

I absolutely love my job but, I would be lying if I didn’t say that there were a lot of negative moments in my role as a Vice Principal of discipline. It’s just a simple fact that I don’t always get to see the students at their best moments. Although this is a fact, I have found that I love this role and forming relationships with some of our most struggling students. It’s amazing to see the progress that some of our students are making as we go throughout the year. Yet, it can be easy to fall into the trap of the magic ratio and allowing that 5:1 ratio to dictate the outcome of my day.

I remember thinking this way in the classroom, too. Perhaps it was reviewing the results of an assessment and seeing that 30 of my students performed well, while 5 of my students  struggled. It could have been the times where I reviewed a note from a substitute to find that four class periods were amazing but one class was disrespectful or off-task. The 5:1 ratio still held true in these situations. I couldn’t focus on the positive and all of the amazing things that happened that day. I could only focus on the negatives.

While there is a lot of research to support the idea of the magic ratio for positive and negative emotions, I’ve decided that I want to actively break that ratio into nonexistence. I want to be more mindful of focusing on the positives, rather than negatives – because guess what? There are a lot more positives in the day than negatives and those should carry the most weight.

While I have been thinking about this a lot lately, I was surprised to find that this was apparently on the minds of many people in our district. In fact, our district leadership meeting this week focused on this very idea, specifically on how we can create lasting positive change in our schools and lives. To help us start to develop sustainable and lasting change, our district leadership was taken through a series of videos and activities. These activities were short and simple ways to create more positivity…which has inspired me to create an activity for you to share with your students or staff, too!

Based upon some of my reflections, plus our amazing district leadership meeting, I created a HyperDoc that could be used with either staff or students to inspire positive thinking and change on your campus. Again, I have to reiterate that a majority of these activities were completely stolen from my own district, so major props to them for bringing great PD to us!

(View)(Copy)

(The easiest way to share this with staff for them to create their own link is by sharing the “copy” link above.)

As I move forward, I am hoping to put more of these “five actions” into, well, action in my own life on a daily basis. I do believe that it help defeat the magic ratio and bring more positivity to myself and those around me. There are so many positive things to focus on in our lives and in our careers – we just have to be more mindful about it!

How do you support your staff or students in creating and developing a positive mindset? Share in the comments below!

Earlier this week, I came across a TEDEd video called “Why You Should Define Your Fears Instead of  Your Goals?” The premise of the video is:

The hard choices — what we most fear doing, asking, saying — are very often exactly what we need to do. How can we overcome self-paralysis and take action? Tim Ferriss encourages us to fully envision and write down our fears in detail, in a simple but powerful exercise he calls “fear-setting.” Learn more about how this practice can help you thrive in high-stress environments and separate what you can control from what you cannot. (TEDEd)

Click below to watch this video:

Honestly, I found this video to be fascinating for two reasons – an educational and a personal reason.

First, I found that this video is very relevant in education due to the conversations surrounding social and emotional learning (SEL). According to CASEL, SEL “is the process through which children and adults acquire and effectively apply the knowledge, attitudes, and skills necessary to understand and manage emotions, set and achieve positive goals, feel and show empathy for others, establish and maintain positive relationships, and make responsible decisions.” While this definition primarily focuses on the positive aspects of emotional intelligence, I truly believe it is helpful for students to understand and define their negative emotions and how to overcome them. Therefore, this video gave me some excellent inspiration for a HyperDoc (which I will share below!) to support students in defining and overcoming their fears.

Second, I found that this video spoke to me on a personal level. It’s true, students are not the only ones with fears and areas of growth! Ever since I was a child, I have been an overthinker and someone who struggles with fears. You name it – I’ve probably thought of the worst case scenario that could occur. However, I have definitely improved over time and it was due to a very similar approach as in this video. I would start by thinking about what I feared, how I could prevent it, and, if my worst fears were to come true, what were the possible outcomes and how could I fix it. I’ve found it to be very helpful over the years by always asking, “What’s the worst that could really happen – and how could I fix it?”

As I finished watching this video, I realized it would be a fantastic opportunity for students to stretch their SEL skills. In fact, I really wish I had gone through an activity like this at a younger age! Therefore, I created a HyperDoc that I believe would be appropriate for any age, with slight modifications, to support students in defining and overcoming their fears.

Here are some key activities in this HyperDoc:

• ENGAGE: Students will create a collage of pictures that represent the word “fear” to them.
• EXPLORE: Students will research and rate common fears.
• EXPLAIN: Students will watch the TEDEd video: Why You Should Define Your Fears Instead of  Your Goals?
• APPLY: Students will complete the “Define, Prevent, Repair” activity.
• SHARE: Students will share their slide deck with a partner for feedback and collaboration.
• REFLECT: Students will reflect on what they have learned.

Create Your Own Copy!

If you are interested in using this HyperDoc, click on the link above to create your own copy – and it’s yours!

As always, I would love to hear your thoughts on this blog topic. Have you done any “fear setting” activities with your students? What other ways do you support social and emotional learning (SEL) in your classroom? Share in the comments below!