Giving life
Ted Haggard has a book called The Life-Giving Church. This isn’t a book review, but I liked the concept he discusses of saying “yes” to people’s dreams and initiative, to being an enabler of good rather than one who restricts and shuts others down. I’ve heard this from other church leaders, like Rick Warren, and it seems to be a good leadership principle in general.
It’s certainly true in education. Rather than just letting kids do what they want, being life-giving invovles assuming the best, of giving attention to good things rather than bad. For example, I’ve found that, when I want to quiet a noisy class, it’s much more effective to pick up my Top Student Award pad (part of a little school token economy) than the infraction pad (for discipline). They just respond better. Sometimes they talk more because they’re excited about getting the rewards, but it’s worth it to be positive and life-giving and not always threatening them.
On another related note, I’ve been noticing that I do better as a teacher if I focus on the good kids - teaching for those who are interested and participating, not the few who aren’t. This is crucial but unnatural, because the bad kids act bad in order to get attention, and they’re good at it. It’s a tough but transforming process to so emphasize good that there is little room or reason for bad.
