When sitting down to write my first actual blog post I had no concrete idea of where to begin—I had like 17 ideas of what could be #1. Should I start with how “Teach Like A Pirate” opened the floodgate for Awesomeness? How “Be REAL” hits home on so many levels and highlights the importance of Social Emotional Learning for ALL stakeholders? Should I talk about how Mike Matera has me amped to take my low level gamification to new heights with“Explore Like a Pirate”? How Joy Kirr makes a valid case for small and big shifts in “Shift This”? or just how amazing the whole #HiveSummit thing was?

All would be fantastic and all will be blog posts here relatively shortly but, with a little contemplation, I knew in my heart that my first blog post had to be about my mantra. Its central to who I am and my “why” for doing what I do. Its the first thing I put on this website and is the first “Words of Wisdom” I give my students:

“Every day you wake up is a good day”–Mr. Anderson

Every student I have ever had will tell you that I say this several times a class. I want it to sink in with them and at the end of the year they all want to take a video with them saying it in unison. Former students approach me and its the first thing they say (even before hello), It is a positive battle cry that sets a positive vibe every day…..especially as they learn its backstory. Its one of the first things I share with students that begins that REAL connection we all seek to make.

While I obviously did not articulate it when it happened this mantra is actually born out of the hardest ordeal in my family’s history. When I was about two and a half my parents gave birth to another son, Charlie. After ten days with us Charlie died in his sleep one night. They call it SIDS, which stands for Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, and no one can explain why it happens—it just does. It is where I started to feel compelled to help others and be thankful for waking up every day.

Is that something hard to share? Absolutely…..but it shows students I am a real person who can empathize with hard times. It also provides a positive reframe of perspective.

When, regardless of all the hardships our students face, you genuinely frame each day you wake up as a “win”….then you provide them hope….and hope is one of the most powerful driving forces we have as human beings. Give someone hope and they can overcome anything. With hope we can then teach them the skills to be successful—which I do by incorporating John Wooden’s Pyramid of Success (I will blog on that later).

I am not sure if I “blogged correctly” but that is my first and most vital thing to share: The Positive Power of Hope.

How do you provide hope and a frame for positive vibes?

“Every day you wake up is a good day” —Mr. Anderson