Switch – Chapter 4, Want to be a scholar?

In chapter four of “Switch, When Change is Hard,” the authors, Chip and Dan Heath, recount a powerful story about a Kindergarten teacher.

At the beginning of the school year, Crystal Jones’ Kindergarten class had some serious skill gaps.  Some of the students could not hold their pencil, there was a large gap in the student level of skill, and the one common denominator was that all of the students were no where near where they should to be ready for first grade next year.  There were many tests and many hoops she could create for the students to jump through in order to measure and assess their learning skills, however she chose a different a path.

The question in her mind was, “How do I light the fire of a kindergartner?”  Her conclusion was that she had to change their language. She announced at the beginning of the school year that all of the students would be 3rd graders by the end of the year.  She knew that kindergartners thought that 3rd graders were bigger, cooler and smarter.  She defined for her students that the word scholar is, “someone who lives to learn and is good at it.”   She asked all of her students to refer to one another as scholars. When she had visitors to her classroom, she introduced the students as scholars, and then she would ask the kids to shout out what a scholar is.

By springtime the students were reading at a second grade level.  So she threw them a graduation party.  By the end of the school year 90 percent of the students were reading above a 3rd grade level.  Nine months earlier, many of these same kids did not even know the alphabet!

One of my mentors, Paul Unruh, introduced me to the concept of “change your language, change your life.”  This is what Crystal Jones did.  She knew that it was not about IQ.  She knew that if her students believed in success, felt successful and talked successful, they would be successful.  She changed the students’ language.  She influenced the students to speak the language of success and they become successful.

What if you changed the language in your organization?  What if you believed, felt and talked like you were as successful as you wanted to be in one year?  This concept has been extremely helpful to me for many years and when I came across this story in “Switch” I wanted to share it.  No matter what happens, each day I believe, feel and talk the language of success and you know what?  It has worked out wonderfully for me and NE!