The Magic of Encouragement

"You need to be aware of what others are doing, applaud their efforts, acknowledge their successes, and encourage them in their pursuits.  When we all help one another, everyone wins."  -Jim Stovall

You're probably thinking to yourself right now, hmmm, nice quote, but who is Jim Stovall?  His name is not a household name, but his entrepreneurship is known quite widely.  See, Jim Stovall has been instrumental in making television accessible for our nation's 13 million blind and visually impaired people.  To me, that is awesome.  He was a National champion Olympic weightlifter, so he understands the success that hard work brings.  And hard work needs encouragement.

I am a language arts teacher, among other things.  One of the mantras I had as teacher of writing was that we can't write perfectly the first time around.  It takes effort, scrutiny, multiple drafts, and a smattering of hair-pulling to bring forth something really good.  It's okay to not be perfect the first time.  The success is in the journey.

Harriet Bishop's transition to a magnet school, all the while staying a neighborhood school, has not been without its trials.  It's hard work, and like a piece of Pulitzer-prize winning fiction, not perfect straight out of the gate.  That's one reason for the creation of our surveys.  Think of them like an editor's remarks (I do - I need the feedback).  But I got a magical piece of encouragement today in the form of a detailed response in our mid-year survey:

I absolutely believe Harriet Bishop is headed in the right direction...I can't wait to see where we go from here."

A piece of encouragement like that is priceless.  First off, the creator of that piece of encouragement probably doesn't realize its impact (just as, sometimes, we don't realize the impact of negative comments).  Secondly, the creator of that encouragement is validating the process of what we're doing, and I for one am extremely grateful for that acknowledgement and validation of process.   Lastly, the creator of that piece of encouragement used the collective term "we", which implies a team effort - people helping each other.   The collective use of "we" was probably the MOST encouraging - that people are willing to do this together.  It was a piece of magic, and I am profoundly grateful.  Personally, I can't wait to see where we go from here, either.