By Dane Puterbaugh Accountability and School Improvement Representative
The summer is a wonderful time to work in education. From the outside, it looks like we all take the summer off and sit poolside with mystery novels and cool drinks. The reality is the work never stops, it just looks different. Summer provides a time to “sharpen your saw”, as Stephen Covey says. During my summers, I like to go on long runs in the woods on non-work hours or between projects. Running without headphones gives me a lot of time to think. This summer I have been thinking more and more about the crossover between successful endurance training and how to improve schools and student outcomes. Three ideas stand out that educators can take from the endurance world – the long term growth from consistency, the power of positivity, and the importance of a team.
Brick stacking is not a new idea for anyone in the endurance world. To be good at endurance events, it takes many workouts or “bricks” over a long enough time horizon. When you want to run a 50 mile race, no single workout is going to make or break your ability. Instead, it is that daily effort and consistency that leads to growth. The same is true for our students. No single lesson is going to help your students pass their state tests. Our students’ success comes from daily brick stacking. The routines, strategies, and words you use everyday to build up your students is what leads to long term growth. Consistency beats the newest buzz words every time.
The next idea, positivity, involves a little bit of math. There are several studies that examine how mindset affects performance in running. Those studies have found that positive self-talk leads to a 2-4% increase in running performance. That might sound like a small number, but think about that over a long enough time horizon. A 4% boost everyday leads to a fundamentally different runner over the course of a year. And the good news? The boosts are even greater for students. One study published by the Institute of Education Science found that a positive mindset (tied to growth mindset) led to a 13% boost in student academic outcomes. Think about a student that is 13% better every year over the course of their education. That is life changing academic growth.
The last idea is important to think about now when things feel good. We all know that the school year gets tough. Those long days and meetings that feel like they’re pulling us away from what we want to be doing come for all of us. But there are important studies that apply to running and teaching. In an incredible study from the University of Virginia, they found that when confronted with a physical hill, we perceive them to be less steep when we are around people that we consider friends. Being surrounded by “our team,” people we feel supported by, literally changes how big a hill looks! And we all know the school year is one big proverbial hill we need to climb every year. If you want to know more about yourself, look at the people you surround yourself with. Is your team one that will make big hills look small? Investing in your people early and building strong connections will pay dividends over the course of the year.
Start this school year off strong and don’t overcomplicate it. There is no silver bullet, but there are strategies that are proven to work. Your consistent brick stacking will help build the foundation your students need to excel. Stealing, and slightly tweaking, a phrase from Ernest Hemmingway, growth happens two ways: gradually then suddenly. Surround yourself with the right people, keep a positive attitude, and keep stacking those bricks, and your students’ growth will happen the same way – gradually then suddenly.
Works Cited:
MARCORA, S., STAIANO, W., DE MORREE, H., HARDY, J., & BLANCHFIELD, A. (2014). Talking Yourself Out of Exhaustion: The Effects of Self-talk on Endurance Performance. Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, 46(5), 998–1007. https://doi.org/10.1249/MSS.0000000000000184
Schnall, S., Harber, K. D., Stefanucci, J. K., & Proffitt, D. R. (2008). Social Support and the Perception of Geographical Slant. Journal of experimental social psychology, 44(5), 1246–1255. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jesp.2008.04.011
What Works Clearinghouse, Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education. (2022, January). Growth Mindset Interventions for Postsecondary Students. https://whatworks.ed.gov.