Synergy involves valuing differences in others and focusing on strengths that each person brings to the table rather than weaknesses. To reach this point, we have to be able to “think win-win” and “seek to understand” one another. Then we can collaborate. Synergy is the habit of collaboration and attempts to achieve a better solution. Not your way or my way, but a better solution given our combine strengths.

Our professional development afternoon today gave me an opportunity to practice this habit. The first part of our meeting required the staff to meet in horizontal teams to revise our ESLERs as our WASC self-study will take place next year and as a site we felt their was need for revision. After changing the acronym to one more representative to our school, each group worked on revising the definitions for each part. After collaborating on the new definitions, we did a gallery walk of the options to vote on the best ones. Not everyone on the 10th grade team is a writer and we all teach different subjects, yet everyone listened to each other, valued the different backgrounds and strengths each person brought to the table, and together, our collective efforts produced much better results than any of us could have achieved individually. One could feel the “synergy” in the room. Our concept of “citizen” even incorporates the welcoming pillar. This was probably one of the more productive and motivating professional developments we have had in a long time. Everyone was involved and working together.

My Commitment to teach Habit #6 Synergize

Synergy incorporates a lot of elements of the blended learning model. I am having my AP World students research and collaborate online the changing role of women in modernizing Eurasia. In their groups they are collaborating to look at changes in property rights, domestic control, earning power, professions available, education, voting rights, marriage and children. Some are looking at women in the Ottoman Empire, another group is looking at Russia, a third group is looking at Japan during the Meiji period and a fourth, Qing China. Groups will be coming together to narrow their results and collaborate to achieve a richer comparison. 

References:
Covey, Stephen (1989). The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Person Change.

According to Stephen Covey, author of The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change, the majority of people do not listen with the intent to understand but rather with the intent to reply. This is definitely demonstrated in the above GoAnimate video. So what does it mean to really listen, to listen empathetically?  And how does one make it a habit? Empathetic listening is not just about agreeing with the other person, but showing you understand. It is a skill that takes tremendous energy and emotional strength. You might do this by rephrasing, reflecting on feelings or on the emotions behind what the person is saying, or combine these. If others feel you are really listening, their perception about you will change and they will want to collaborate with you. 

Commitment to Habit # 5—Seek First to Understand, then to be understood (the habit of listening)

Listening is not something I do well, and although I have tried to improve this skill, I have not been successful. I constantly find myself interrupting, relating what the other person is saying to my own experiences, or trying to offer advice. I've tried rephrasing the content, but people who know me well think there is something wrong. I'm not sure why I'm not a good listener. Maybe because I was an only child. Anyway,  I think if I focus on the emotions that lie behind what is being told to me and reflect on the meaning or feeling, listening might come more nature.
Do: 

1. Reflect Feeling
2. Reflect Meaning
3. Use Empathetic starters

The following TED Talk by Julian Treasure talks about five ways to listen better. Treasure emphasizes that listening is our access to understanding and that conscious listening creates understanding. I thought I would try some of his strategies to redevelop my listening skills. These include three minutes a day of silence, trying to out specific sounds in the noise to improve the quality of my listening, savoring mundane sounds, trying out listening positions, most important, his RASA acronym (receive, appreciate, summarize, and ask questions). I like the strategy of asking questions. It might work for me. 

1. Ask my AP World History students what they think it means to really listen to someone?
2. When was the last time they did this?
3. Teach the steps of empathetic listening.
4. Have them check how they react to people during their next ten encounters. Are they responding too quickly, are they being judgement, giving advice without being asked, interrupting, or are they really listening? Assess where they are at.
5. Have students practice with three to five other people they encounter and report back on their progress.


References:
Covey, Stephen (1989). The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Person Change.

Steven Covey’s habit, “Think Win-Win” is all about re-examining our relationships with others and thinking about how we can work together despite our differences to create a winning situation for everyone. According to Dr. Pumpian’s presentation, it is not about “getting your way” or “my way”, but about creating a better way. Through cooperation and collaboration, we can work together to meet both of our needs. Win-win is not about getting better results through competition, but rather by cooperation.

This is a habit I have struggled with and it is an area where improvement is needed. I am very competitive and do not always view relationships cooperatively. This was particularly the case last year when I was asked to give a colleague one of my AP World sections and assist her in designing curriculum and in teaching the course. My original thoughts were that it was my course. I had implemented the course at our school, had been teaching it for years, had experienced joy and success from the course, and I was outraged with the idea of sharing it. My colleague had approached me wanting to collaborate, that together, we might be able to make the course even better. I, on the hand, viewed us as competitors and worried that she might try to take my other section if she decided she enjoyed teaching the course. Obviously, this was not creating a win-win situation. My feelings about our work together changed when I noticed how hard she was working and that she was excited to share lessons she developed or materials from workshops she attended. In the end, I decided the best strategy for all concerned was cooperation and collaboration, not only to make the program better, but because it was not just about the two of us but about the students we were serving. I wanted all of the students to achieve and do well in the course; not just my own.

I am continuing to put “think win-win” into practice in working with my AP World History colleague and in working with fellow staff members to integrate technology into their classrooms. In terms to technology, I want my colleagues to be successful and have a positive experience with technologies in their classrooms. I also want everyone onboard with ideas I have to improve technology needs at our school. This will only work with a “win-win” strategy.

Commitment to teach Habit #4 Think Win-Win
I plan to share my habit with my husband, my AP World Colleague, and with my AP World History students. This will be a perfect opportunity, as my husband and I are both trying to lose weight. In the past I have viewed this competitively and we have not really worked together to change some of our eating habits. We often sabotaged the other’s efforts by bringing home the other’s favorite ice cream. We are both working cooperatively to eat healthy, regardless of who is cooking and come up with a plan that will work for both of us, rather than each having completely different plans. In terms my AP World colleague, I will continue to work with her to develop a better AP program, rather than keeping all of the resources to myself. For my AP World students, I have already encouraged them to work collaboratively and collectively with each other and to not view the course as a competition against each other. For example, not all class members worked on the Opium War conflict. Some worked on the Taiping or Boxer rebellions in China. For an up-coming Document Based Exam (DBQ) that focused primarily on the Opium War, I asked students who were experts on the Opium War to share their knowledge and work cooperatively and collaboratively with one another so that all students would benefit from this. I also had students who were better with analyzing point a view assist students who were not and students who were good at thesis statements assist students who were not.

Steps: Have AP World Students:

1. Reflect on last week’s habit, “Put first things first.”
2. Discuss the concept “think win-win” as we continue to plan for our up-coming AP Review sessions.
   
3. I want to talk about areas of need and encourage them to collaborate and be part of the planning process for our review sessions, and possibly share in the hosting of them.
   
4. Although I do approach this as a team effort, I emphasize that we are not in competition against each other and that our review will be a “win-win” if we cooperate and work together.
   
5. Together, "win-win"

This habit is all about the importance of time management but draws upon the first two habits. Once you are proactive and you have the end in mind and know what is important, you can prioritize your life (at least this is the idea). According to Dr. Pumpian's presentation, habit three is a habit of "integrity and execution." In terms of reflecting and committing to this habit, the area I need to work on is the execution.

The above Time Management Quadrant was adapted from Stephen Covey's Time Management Matrix and modified to fit my own life workflow. Thinking about my time management and about the end in mind, and whether I am "putting first things first", I concluded that I toggle back and forth between Q1 and Q2. As much as I really do try to plan and set goals in order to "prioritize", I often find myself in the "Procrastinator" box. I used to be in the "Yes, Man" box, but during the past few years I have moved out of the Q3 box for the most part. However, I occasionally find myself in it out of guilt or when I am not effectively delegating tasks that I do not need to do myself to someone else.

So, what is the next best thing to do?
For starters, designing the above time management quadrant helped me to visualize my next steps as opposed to having it all in my head. Now that I have a picture of where I'm at, I can better management my workflow. Returning to the David Allen's Getting Things Done (GTD) model which involves the five steps: collect, process, organize, plan, and do, I need to look at my list in Q2, and come  up with a reasonable plan to accomplish these goals and then execute the plan. I find I'm good at organizing what it is I need to do, but don't break it down into specific allotments of time. I then find myself committing to additional tasks that I realistically either do not have time for or they are not helping me reach my end goal. My implementation plan for this habit is to figure out the time needed to achieve my priorities listed in Q2, plan according to these priorities (if necessary, reorder them), and in doing this, I should be able to achieve my highest priorities.

Commitment to teach Habit #3—Put First Things First (A Time Management Habit)
I plan to share what I am doing to implement the habit with my husband and with my AP World History students. This will be the perfect week for this as my husband and I have both been tracking our expenses now for a few weeks and he is also interested in time management strategies. Also, in terms of my AP World students, articulation is this week and this is the first time teachers rather than just counselors are involved in the planning and scheduling process. We are going to be using Naviance instead of articulation cards, and we are provide guidance to students for our subject areas and in long term planning to meet a-g requirements, as well as selection of colleges they are interested in attending and courses they might take. 

Steps: Have AP World Students:
1. Reflect on last week's habit, begin with the end in mind.
2. Create a Time Management Matrix and asses what quadrant they are in.
3. List their priorities and think about what priorities they are putting first, what roadblocks take them off course, and how do they get back on course.
4. Select a classmate to help keep them on track.
5. Commit to revisiting how this is going in a week.

The Labyrinth represents the often complicated, irregular network of paths to navigate to find one’s way. The traveler on this journey has only one choice, to enter or not to enter. Once the choice to enter is made, the traveler is constantly challenged by decisions and frustrations; some that lead to dead ends and need to be rethought in order to reach the end. The Desert Rose Labyrinth, pictured above is an eleven-circuit labyrinth in the Coyote Gulch Art Village in Utah. There are similar one’s in the Anza Borrego desert, including the maze of slot canyons, a type of labyrinth. My husband and I are fascinated by labyrinths and enter one when an opportunity arises. We also love to hike in the desert and explore the slot canyons to enjoy the calm, reflect, and rediscover our center. Hiking in the desert involves planning, as it is easy to lose one’s way. Like the labyrinth, live is filled with choices. From the time we are born, we are told to be proactive, plan for the future, and make the right choices to reach our goals. This requires staying focused on what’s important, prioritizing our goals, and planning time accordingly to get results. However, I often find my personal aspirations outside of work are often put on hold because of circumstances outside of my control or because I am so focused on professional goals. As I get closer to turning fifty, I find myself feeling like I am running short of time to align with what Jerry Patterson and Dr. Pumpian refer to as my True North, and I am constantly questioning whether I am making the right choices. When one is younger, it seems there is always time to make changes in our own behavior.

According to Dr. Pumpian’s presentation, starting with the end in mind is a habit of vision, and the best way to predict our future is to create it. Beginning with the end in mind comes easier for me as a teacher, both in terms of lesson and unit design, and it is beginning to get easier in leadership roles I have chosen, at least where the purpose and vision is already defined and I am charged with making it happen. In terms of areas I need to develop, these include the type of leadership I want to model and to be a part of and my authenticity as a leader. I have goals I want to achieve and several projects in mind, but sometimes have trouble following through with all of them.

A current goal this year, which came out of my needs assessment last semester is to use Asset Funds (not that money is available) to set-up a computer lab for students who do not have access to computers at home and need time to work after school. I need to better define what this will look like and the resources needed to make it successful. Viewing the end in mind and developing a blueprint will allow the project to be more successful.

My commitment this week in terms of teaching the habit—start with the end in mind—is to continue to teach my AP World History students. Last week, we looked at management strategies to be proactive in their workflow and in goal setting to improve their writing. This week we will focus on starting with the end in mind.

Steps: Have AP students
1.   Start with an end goal to increase their learning
2.   Select a goal to improve communication and prioritizing to get the results they want.
3.   If the result isn’t what they intended in order to reach their goal, what will they change?

Becoming Proactive 

With the start of the 2015, I found myself thinking a lot about habits, but was hesitant to form new habits since I felt like my life was not in order. Was this the right time to form a new habit? In terms of forming good habits or improving old ones, as well as limiting bad habits, I’ve come to the conclusion that it is easier to replace a bad habit with a good habit than it is to completely give up a bad habit without anything in return.

In his blog, The Community, Stephen Covey looks at seven habits of highly effective people. Habit 1: Be Proactive is at the top of his list. Being proactive is all about the choices we make everyday and about taking responsibility for these choices. I’d like to think that I am a very proactive person. However, reflecting on what it means to be proactive over the past several days, I realize that being proactive does not come natural for me and I often find myself being reactive in certain situations instead.

Today at work, I began the day with an experiment—I was going to be proactive throughout my day. I slowed down, thought about what I was going to say before saying it, was more aware of the choices I made throughout the day and the language I used. Although I know I’m responsible for my behavior, I still find myself assigning blame to circumstance. So how did being proactive effect my day? The first half of my day went well. I focused on things I had influence over: my students, work related problems, and tasks requiring a response. The later part of the day was a different story all together. A family emergency arose and I found myself perhaps a bit less proactive in the situation. With my students, I decided to try out the three-person process. I have an activity I like to do with students called a “table rally”. Basically, it works like the three-person process. However, I often find that students prefer to hand the student in the listening role their notes and skip the “teaching part” of the process. Today, I started off by re-emphasizing the teaching aspect and I included suggestions they might use to make what they are teaching more interesting. I was pleasantly surprised. When I visited groups, many were so into the story they were presenting, they did not even look at their notes. And student’s who never used to ask questions when taking notes about a topic were asking for clarification because they didn’t want to teach information incorrectly. I was quite pleased. By the way, it’s a 10th grade World History class. I wonder if this might work with my 7th graders?

To become a leader others trust and want to follow, being proactive is a step in the right direction, but again, it is easier to replace an old habit than to adopt a new one.  So, I decided to separate the personal and the interpersonal.

Personal Habits and Becoming Proactive
Old Habit: Not tracking Expenses. This is somewhat an embarrassing habit, but my husband and I do not jointly track our expenses. Part of embracing 2015, involves being more proactive with our expense tracking. We agreed that I will do research for online/App expense tracking software that we will jointly use to track our expenses. This is the first time since living together and getting married we are committed to a joint expense ledger (I know this sounds strange for most married couples).

Replacing Old Habit: Tracking Expenses
Steps:
1)   We spoke and decided on a plan of action
2)  I will research technologies suited to our needs and teach him how the App/software works.
3)   At the end of each week, we will treat ourselves to a reward (dinner out or a movie). If we are not successful, we will spend some quality time together doing this at home.
4) Once we reach our goal and see the benefit, the habit will hopefully be internalized and the reward, perhaps not as essential.

Interpersonal Habits and Becoming Proactive at Work
Old Habit: Mismanagement of Workflow

Replacing Old Habit: Using the Getting Things Done (GTD), workflow model by David Allen to improve management of work and resources. This is something I’ve been wanting to tryout for a while now. The GTD workflow model involves five steps: collect, process, organize, plan, and do. The goal behind this is approach is to limit procrastination, increase productivity, and ultimately “Get Things Done.”

Proactive Coaching: 10th Grade (AP World History)
Achieving balance with AP students can be more difficult than it might seem. Often times, students in AP courses take on much more than they realize and do not have the skills to manage it all. I try to teach my AP World History students survival skills or “habits” to manage the “paper beast” or what now-a-days, might be referred to as the “abundance of information”.

Steps:
1)   Overall course management strategies—what worked first semester (approach to projects) and what areas need improvement (approach to essays)
2)   Second Semester Honest Motivational Talk Connected with the goal of Improving Exam Essay scores and building self-esteem
3)   Setting goals for improving writing and coaching one another (team building and renewed course commitment)
4)   Strategy used to debrief Document Based Essay (DBQ) this week: Revisited thesis statements and worked in groups to revise thesis statements, additional documents, and points of view claims. The power of models goes along way.
5)   Goal: Still trying to get them all on board with Google accounts. Want to use Google Hangouts for online office hours and review.

Observation: Passion, willpower, and validation motivates commitment.  

So why are human behaviors compelled by habit and why focus on willpower? 
The Power of Habit: Charles Duhigg at TEDxTeachersCollege