President’s Report

Happy summer! Hopefully everyone is having an enjoyable one. I have decided for the next two articles, no more fluff, fluff. Let’s get down to what some might say is “heavy stuff”, “food for thought,” and others may call “inspirational.”

Last year the Wagner Community School staff started the year with Top 20 Training. I started reading the book, “Top 20 Teachers” and found that MUCH of the information is this book can be applied to our daily lives professionally and personally regardless if we are in the education profession. The following are excerpts from the book:

Potential is a power in each person that wants to make a positive difference.

What happens to that potential over time? For many people nothing happens to it. They have undeveloped potential that remains dormant year after year. These people are represented on the graph by the dotted line.

For many people their potential develops at a rate that would be commonly expected. They are achieving reasonable goals and getting along fine with others. They are represented by the broken line.

But for some people, their potential explodes. They are represented by the solid line.

The purpose of Top 20 training is to help people become aware of Top 20 and Bottom 80 ways of thinking, learning, and communicating. When we operate as a Top 20 person, we think, learn and communicate, or TLC, in highly effective ways. When we operate as bottom 80s, our thinking, learning and communicating is highly ineffective. In a real sense, each person is a Top 20. When we use this Top 20 and Bottom 80 language, we are not comparing ourselves to other people; it’s simply a way of our understanding these two dimensions about ourselves. The Frame is a simple but powerful concept. It suggests that how we SEE something (how we think about it, our beliefs, perceptions or opinions) influences how we feel; how we FEEL influences what we do (our behaviors or actions); what we DO influences what we get (the results); and typically what we GET reinforces how we see it.

Top 20s understand that. They realize that what they are getting out of life or a certain experience has to do with how they are seeing it. Bottom 80s could claim that what they are getting out of life has to do with something external: their spouse, their boss, or something in their environment.

Top 20s and Bottom 80s respond quite differently when they are not getting the results they want to be getting. The following are three common Bottom 80 responses.

1. Change nothing. Bottom 80s change nothing but expect things to get better. 2. Change what we ‘Do.’ Bottom 80s believe that if they change what they do they will change what they get.

This is logical and sometimes works. However, if we only change what we do, the change will be small and short-lived. 3. Blame. The clearest indication that we are operating as a Bottom 80, however, is revealed when we blame someone or something when we are not getting the results we desire. Whether we are aware of it or not,

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President’s Notes continued from page 5

whenever we blame, we give up power to make a

positive difference in our life. Because we don’t take responsibility, we pass power to someone else and can stay stuck in yuck for a long time.

We blame because we have a need to be right. When we are not getting the results we want to be getting, our need to be right gets activated and comes out in the form of blame.

Top 20s understand that See is the most powerful corner of the Frame. They know that what they are getting is the result of how they are seeing. Consequently, when they are not getting desired results, they go to the See corner and ask questions like: How can I see this differently? How can I see this other person differently? How can I see myself differently? In other words, Top 20s use curiosity to see things differently.Top 20s value curiosity because it allows them to see differently or see more than they originally saw.

In closing, every situation in our life, we can take one of two paths, the Bottom 80 path, or the Top 20 path. As we become more and more aware of what each of these paths entails, we will be more able to choose the Top 20 path. Which path will you choose? Choose wisely! Until next month,

BOTTOM 80 PATH TOP 20 PATH

I don’t see. I don’t see

Because I don’t knowthat I don’t see, I think I see everything exactly the way it is. Because I knowthat I don’t see, I know I don’t see everything exactly the way it is.

Therefore, I think I’m RIGHT. Therefore, I am CURIOUS.

Then I BLAME. Then I LEARN

I lose power. I see more.

I’m a victim. I’m a difference maker. I stay stuck in yuck. I get a better experience.

Becky Brunsing President

Reprinted with permission from Top 20 Teachers The Revolution in American Education, copyrighted and published by Top 20 Press, an imprint of Morgan James Publishing St. Paul, MN * New York, NY.