How To Use Happiness Research To Improve School Culture and Student Outcomes

All my daffodils are blooming. Seeing them reminds me that sometimes it takes a while to see the full outcome of your work.  I planted new bulbs in the fall, alongside bulbs from prior years.  When you plant bulbs, you have to hope that they are planted at the right depth - or they won’t grow. Too shallow and the squirrels will dig them up, and leave them half eaten, just to spite you.  And, along with watching for the first shoots to poke up through the leaves and snow, It is always fun to see daffodils popping up where I know I didn’t plant any at all.   To be a gardener requires some degree of optimism, a lot of patience, and some trial and error to learn what works best for the plants in your yard.  It’s that patient optimism that carries us through the winter as gardeners, knowing that there is joy in all of the steps- from picking out what to plant, doing the planting, tending the beds, watching the growth, and enjoying the blooms.  

Shawn Achor was one of the keynote speakers at the ASCD conference this year.  His research focus is happiness, and how to increase optimism through interconnectedness.  The lessons he shared are essential and relevant to educators, to students, to parents, to board members, and to district staff members.  I encourage you to look at the resources I have linked below.  The brief information I can share through my reflection this week should spark your interest in learning more.

Lesson 1: If you always process the world through the same lens, you get cognitively stuck and you can’t adapt.  Building connections to people who can walk alongside you as you approach problems, and suggest solutions or options from a different lens pushes you out of this “stuck” mindset.  Think about your classroom style - do you always teach the same thing the same way? Do you fall back on the same assessment tools, the same engagement ideas? Who can you reach out to that will push on this, give you a new perspective or add new strategies to your toolbox?  How can we give students the opportunities to push out of their own academic comfort zones? 

Lesson 2: Meaningful Work does not prevent burnout. Making statements like “ If only I had or could do _____________, then I would be happy.  All this does is postpone happiness. And, according to Achor, your brain will always continue to move the bar as it constantly works to reframe success.  Instead, happiness that is shared can lead to success.  He shared a study that demonstrated an individual looking at a steep hill saw it as almost impossible to climb. Two individuals, when looking at the hill together, saw it as less high, less intense, and climbable. The research outcome, including another brain makes your perception of overcoming a challenge more positive. Sooooo many ways to think about this in our professional lives, personal lives, and in our classrooms. 

Lesson 3: Shared Positive Mindsets fill your cup and lead to agility in thinking, improved performance, increased creativity, and increased empathy. The research is compelling. Happiness can break down the systems that are leading to depression, anxiety, and stress. All of the work around mindfulness, breathing, exercise and movement, social cohesion, and developing empathy is not “just another thing” or “time away from core academics”. Use Achor’s work to plan parent nights, board presentations, and community messaging to talk about how these living skills are necessary if students are going to be prepared to take on the world in front of them - and be innovators, analytical and critical thinkers, and be happy. 

Lesson 4: It is possible to reshape your brain to scan for positivity in the world around you. To do this, you must find NOVEL things you are grateful for for 21 days in a row. And, for good measure, spend 2 minutes a day to give sincere praise or a thank you to one person a day, at least 3 days in a row - really try for 8 days in a row. This shared gratitude will reframe the way you approach your day. And you will have a ripple effect on those around you. 

Because I have continued to explore how to work with ChatGPT, I thought about how ChatGPT might be used if you are working to see the world through a positive lens. Again, ChatGPT is not human, and can’t replace the empathy that comes along with working with colleagues. With that in mind,  I gave it this prompt: 

You are an optimistic bot.  I am going to give you a scenario and I want you to respond with 3-5 questions that will help frame my solution thinking in a positive way. 

ChatGPT: Sure, I'd be happy to help you with that! Please go ahead and give me the scenario.

Me:I have a project I have wanted to work on, but I just can’t find the time. I don’t think it will ever get done. 

ChatGPT: I'm sorry to hear that you're feeling stuck. Here are some framing questions that can help you approach the situation more optimistically:

1. How important is this project to you? Why is it important? Consider the long-term benefits of completing this project and what impact it might have on your life or work.

2. How can you break the project down into smaller, more manageable tasks? Consider setting achievable goals for yourself, such as working on the project for a certain amount of time each day or week. This can help make the project feel less overwhelming and more achievable.

3. Can you delegate some of the tasks involved in the project to others? Consider whether there are other people who might be able to help you with some of the tasks involved in the project. This can help reduce your workload and free up time for other important things.

4. Is there a specific time of day when you tend to be most productive or creative? Consider scheduling time to work on the project during this time, and use this time to focus exclusively on the project.

5. Finally, remember that progress is progress, no matter how small. Celebrate the small wins along the way, and be kind to yourself if things don't always go according to plan. The most important thing is to keep moving forward and stay motivated.

I tried some classroom scenarios too - and ChatGPT responded with similar, appropriate questions.

  

Resources To Spark Your Thinking:

• Shawn Achor’s Homepage - Includes links to both of his books (also available as Audible books)

• His Parble of the Orange Frog 

• TedTalk - The Happy Secret To Better Work 

• YouTube - The Happiness Advantage

• Why Compliments Make Us Feel So Good - And How to Get Better At Giving Them

• Do Compliments Make You Cringe - Here’s Why (Harvard Business Review) 

• And…my own personal reminder that positivity can result in change - I have the Chinese proverb - “The man who moves a mountain starts with a single stone” in my office, along with the basket of stones I have moved.  What drives you to see problems as solvable and challenges as learning opportunities? 

How Generative AI Can Help Find Common Ground Around Challenging Topics In Education - Social Emotional Learning

Wouldn’t it be great if there was a universal translator device that could analyze a conversation between people with opposing points of view and find common ground or suggest wording that would help both sides come to a level of understanding?  There are a number of challenging topics in the education dialogue right now.  Parents, community members, board members, teachers, administrators, and students are all tangled in crossed lines of communication and finding the right words to cut across those lines is increasingly difficult. Social Emotional Learning is one of those tangled lines.  On one side are educators who recognize the need to be intentional in teaching and applying communication, collaboration, organization, self-awareness and empathy skills. On the other side of that tangled line, parents, community members, board members and politicians who see SEL as something new, something different, something that they aren't sure is good for kids or should be in school.

Without a universal translator device, educators can still diffuse the conversation when it becomes emotionally charged or find common ground when opposing perspectives are shared.  I call this a connect the dots conversation.  I have found that asking the person who is questioning SEL, or any other curriculum, is to first listen to their perspective. What is it that they have heard or read that sparked their interest in reaching out to me? Are they willing to do a think aloud for me, helping me to see how they connected the dots to arrive at their conclusion or concern.  Often, this results in a walkthrough of how they heard/read and interpreted communication from the district, articles they have seen online, and conversations with other parents or community members that lead them to their concern.  This is really insightful, and is a chance to see the blind spots that may have existed in what I thought was a clearly written communication or assumptions I may have made about how much parents or the community knew or understood about the work of the schools. Sometimes the starting point of common ground is the fact that we both care about kids. It may take multiple conversations to get to the point where someone is open to having this conversation with you. It is worth the time investment, especially if the individual is a leading voice raising concerns.  I then ask them if they are open to hearing how I (or the team) connected the dots.  This is a chance to walk through the decision making process, or to emphasize the positive student outcomes the actions/plan will lead to.  I avoid jargon. I use examples or definitions vs acronyms when doing this.  For the SEL conversation, talking about why communication skills, self-regulation skills, and empathy  are skills we all need is a way to find common ground.  Making connections to their own childhood or school experience is effective.  The “Golden Rule”, counting to 10 before you speak when you are angry, think before you act, the early bird catches the worm… ask them how many of these phrases have they used? All of these phrases are related to social emotional skills, in fact, schools have been integrating these skills for a long time.  Citizenship, attendance, and learning skills have been report card categories in the past.  These are SEL too. Having this conversation, or including this information in school communication helps to reconnect tangled and broken lines.  

I don’t have a universal translator device, but I do have ChatGPT, so I asked it to help me find common ground around SEL.  First, I asked it to identify SEL language from the 1950s, 1970s and today and find common threads. This is one way to engage in conversation with individuals who feel that SEL is something new. 

Then, I worked with ChatGPT to identify words and explanations with neutral connotations that could be used to provide multiple entry points into conversations about SEL with individuals who are coming with their own perspectives.  After some refinement and feedback from me, the list ChatGPT and I created is below. 

1. Communication: This skill is important for building positive relationships, resolving conflicts, and expressing thoughts and feelings in a clear and respectful way.

2. Self-awareness: This skill involves understanding one's own emotions, thoughts, and behaviors, and how they affect others. It can help individuals to manage their emotions and make better decisions.

3. Responsible decision-making: This skill involves evaluating different options and making choices that are respectful, safe, and aligned with personal values and goals.

4. Empathy: This skill involves understanding and sharing the feelings and perspectives of others. It can help individuals to build positive relationships, communicate effectively, and resolve conflicts.

I can see using each of these at the center of a graphic that shows all of the different opportunities students have throughout their day to learn/practice/ get feedback on these skills.  Or, as small group discussion topics - maybe a jigsaw activity.  These skills are inner-related and also tie into PBIS initiatives.  The more we can demonstrate these connections and emphasize that this isn’t new, and that it actually enhances the academic time students are spending in school, the more likely we are to de-escalate conversations.   

Resources to Spark Your Thinking

• NEA’s recent article - The Truth About Social Emotional Learning, It Works

• Edutopia Article - How to Embed Social Emotional Learning Skills Into Your Instruction

• Center For Creative Leadership - How To Tackle Difficult Conversations

Upcoming Opportunities 

• Explore the new Learning Community available as part of the Future Forward Ohio. It is aligned to OTES 2.0 https://www.ohiolearningcommunity.org/ 

• Missy McClain’s (Akron Children’s Hospital)  Modules hosted on the Mercer County ESC website - Understanding Trauma’s Impact On Children 

• Do you have a passion for math? Have you thought about sharing an effective instructional practice with your peers? Now is your chance.  Join OCTM, the Ohio Council of Teachers of Math…and submit a proposal for the state math conference - Oct 12-13 at Kalahari Resorts. Proposals are open now - https://forms.gle/ftaaiRU2HDmuqPiJ7