Hope Vs. Optimism, Part 2.

I ended Hope Vs. Optimism Part1 with this sentence: Hope keeps going after optimism gives up.

 I have witnessed this reality time and time again.

Yet, how exactly does our hope keep us going?

It has been my experience that hope does not mean doing the same thing harder.

Several years ago, I accepted a new leadership position that required relocating our family. During the interview process, I learned that district and school leaders—and many teachers—were frustrated by years of stagnant mathematics and science achievement.

Shortly after I was hired, a small team of teachers asked if they could take me out to lunch to get to know me better. I thanked them for the lunch and for their time and promised I would take seriously their accounts and concerns.

I got into my car and drove away from lunch feeling unsettled.

So, as I drove along, I tried to summarize their words.

They had evidence.

Six years of it.

And the evidence wasn’t good.

They weren’t being pessimistic. They were describing what had happened.

So what exactly was I supposed to tell them?

Just believe? We can do it! Stay positive? Try harder?

None of that cheerleading seemed particularly useful.

Years later, I would have language for what I was experiencing: Optimism becomes vulnerable to evidence.

 And as I drove along, I discovered the real reason I was unsettled. There was another question that mattered more:

What do we do next?

And so, I pulled the car over (actually into a grocery store parking lot) and started writing down some notes.

After talking to a few trusted friends, I decided to offer an invitation to my colleagues. We would voluntarily meet after school every Wednesdays from 3:30-4:30pm.

Refreshments would be served. In the beginning, only a few showed. Eventually, more and more teachers started to show up. Sometimes the Wednesday meetings would go past 6:30pm, long after I had departed.

We had 5 rules:

1. No complaining. No drama. No gossip.
2. Bring one teaching or assessment action that’s working for you—or a colleague.
3. Bring the evidence.
4. Be kind. Listen without interrupting. Say thank you—a lot.
5. Ask for feedback: How might we make this routine even better?

At first, I had a few plants in the group. Teachers willing to be the first to share routines like an effective instructional strategy, a common assessment written with a colleague, or a student success story. Look what our students can do, became a consistent Wednesday theme.

Looking back now, I think I understand those Wednesday afternoons differently.

Wednesday after Wednesday, hope was accumulating.

—Tim Kanold

This weeks’ On Hope essay question:

Where in your life might hope be asking you—not to try harder, but to try differently?