What's Your Contract?
"So what's your contract?" If someone was to ask you this question, would you know what to say? Can you state, out loud, a declaration of who you are and how you will show up? So this question was posed to me and 40 other people who gathered together in San Francisco, CA for Points of You® training.
Here's What I Claimed
I am tenderness. That's right. Tenderness. This has shown up in my professional path when I decided to become an early childhood teacher for 21 years. During that time I relished in the opportunity in creating a classroom environment where children could question and explore and know that when they were with me they could be brave in making mistakes and foster trusting relationships. Over time though, I lost myself along the way until I encountered Points of You® two years ago.
Confronting the Pain
I first encountered the Points of You tools at a diversity institute for public and private school educators and at first was very uncomfortable with what the facilitator was inviting us to do. She had laid out a set of picture cards, word cards and question cards. My immediate thoughts were, "Why do we have to do this?" and "How will these cards do anything for me?" Typical thought loops for a veteran educator who has attended poorly planned professional development in the past that had no relevance to refining my craft.
The other factor in my resistance had to do with where I was emotionally too. You see, for the latter years of my teaching career, I was very unhappy. I was tired. I felt as though I wasn't appreciated at the school I was working at and worst of all, I felt alone.
So when the facilitator asked us to pick two cards from the table to represent what we are going to contribute to the group during the six day institute and what is the gift you hope to take back with you, I only experienced a lot of shame as a result of the burden I was already carrying emotionally. However, I decided to trust the process and allow the experience to unfold.
The Big Moment
For a moment, I let go of my shame and decided that I would fully participate in the exercise. And let me tell you, it was AMAZING! The facilitator just invited one person to begin and share who they through the two cards they had picked. She instructed us to listen deeply to the storyteller and if there was something from their story connect to our own, then you were to step forward and share your story next. Once you were done, you could place your cards in the center of the circle space to see the growing connections. And that's when the big moment hit me. The teachers in a school environment are releasing their social and emotional capital all day long to their students sometimes withdrawing from their reserves and yet there is nothing built into the structure of school where the teachers can replenish this. I knew from that moment, Points of You® was an approach to restore that social and emotional capital for teachers and that I would find a way to become trained in the method and share its magic.
Come Full Circle and Pioneering a Movement
My dream became reality in May 2016 when I attended training held in New York. And after completing a second training experience, I'm ready to share this method with other school leaders and educators who are ready to put the soul back into holding learning spaces for themselves and the students they serve. This is my call to quest and I'm inviting you to join me too. If you believe part of learning is taking time for
- inner research,
- being devoted to connecting with yourself and with others authentically,
- willing to learn from the unexpected,
- dreaming big, and
- DOing about it, instead of SHOULDing about
Then come join this global movement and learn for yourself just how powerful you can be living the Points of You® way.