Glass Half Full Mentality

I know the glass is half full, but I can handle more!

From the desk of Leigh Ann . . .

“Resilient people immediately look at the problem and say, ‘What’s the solution to that?  What is that trying to teach me?’ ”  – unknown

Simply saying the world optimism makes me smile.  It sparks this positive, more resilient tone to my thinking.  Research shows that optimist have better health, greater longevity, experience less stress, and achieve more than their pessimistic counterparts, so I definitely want to be an optimist.  The ability to maintain a positive outlook helps us avoid seeing things outside our control as insurmountable problems and focus on them as opportunities to stretch our thinking and grow.  A degree of optimism is essential in building the resiliency to become self-confident problem solvers, so this is a skill we need to share with our students.

The capacity for effective problem solving is critical to help children build autonomy and resiliency.  As we teach problem-solving skills to our students we can add an optimistic tone to the process.

• Identify the problem. – Think of it as an opportunity to grow in our thinking.  Take nothing for granted and clearly work out what it is we need to solve.
• Generate solutions. – Brainstorm and think of as many different ways of addressing the problem as possible.  Be creative and think “outside the box.”
• Evaluate solutions. – Check the options generated and work through the approaches without being critical.  What seems most feasible and effective?  Our knowledge is far from perfect, so these are our “best guesses.”
• Reflect on the outcome. – Try out the solution and evaluate its success.  If it doesn’t work – try again.  Be persistent and remember we rarely get the best result the first time.  (Thomas Edison once said, “I haven’t failed.  I just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.)

A sense of optimism can go a long way in the classroom and in life.  Maintaining a positive outlook and employing problem solving strategies builds self-efficacy and a sense of self-worth.  Instilling that “glass half full” mentality may help our students believe they can handle the glass and even a little more.

It is never too late to become more of an optimist.  Check this out:  http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newLDR_72.htm