Chapter 9: Celebration

[Vicki Davis]

• How should schools and classrooms implement strategies to promote Kaizen?
• What role should teacher reflections play in providing feedback to their class? To other teachers? To project organizers? To administrators?
• What would be the impact on students if a project ended by just ceasing work without any of the suggestions in this chapter?
• How could involving students in designing their own closing event be beneficial?

Let's celebrate! We hope that you'll celebrate what is happening by sharing! Let's talk about ongoing improvement! Let's rejoice when we've had successes (they get you through the times when things don't go as planned.) Ongoing improvement is a mindset, lifestyle, and habit.

[Emily McCarren]

In my FCCT personal journal I shared about the powerful practice of the Japanese Language Sub-department at my school of having a "program" graduation every year.  Students feel a great deal of ownership in the event and it seems to serve the purpose of elevating expectations for the younger students as well (who are invited to both attend and share what they have learned from their "elders" in formal speeches). 

[akram]

The celebration occurs due to acknowledging that as educators we are always on a continuous journey towards self-improvement. There is no failure only learning. Pat Riley, once coach of basketball team LA Lakers, would tell an incredibly talented team that one's goal should to be to improve 1 percent per week. I think schools need to create a culture where it is ok for students to make mistakes and encourage gradual development. In high stakes testing it is all or nothing and students are under tremendous pressure to perform at their highest level continuously. The metaphor of a journey is important to note and taught to students. It does not matter how you started but how you finish. 

Teachers have to model this behaviour in his or her classroom. He or she has to allow for mistakes to be made and teach students how to learn and move forward.