Winning streaks

As a fan of professional sports, I'm well aware of streaks. There are winning streaks, losing streaks, and hitting streaks. There are hot streaks and cold streaks. Pretty much, as long as someone can do something with consistency, they can go on a streak.On paper, they're just patterns, but streaks change attitudes, they change culture...they're contagious.

The above is a list of current streaks for all 30 teams in the National Basketball Association. They are listed in order of the team's overall record. But you know what's cool about that? Four of the top seven teams are on current losing streaks, while three of the worst six teams are on winning streaks. That's the thing about streaks....they gain momentum and can change the course of a team's season. They can bust ballplayers out of slumps and renew their confidence. 

This week I've discussed streaks with my students in an effort to help them understand the importance of noticing patterns in their behavior. I've shared my belief that we have streaks, too. You know, it's that feeling when you say to yourself, "I feel like I'm a passive participant in my own life...like I'm letting life happen to me...like, if I were to be cast in my own life I'd be listed in the credits as brown-haired 8th grade teacher. When we're in slumps like that, we often know what we want to do differently. I wrote about this in last week's post. Recently, when I've wanted to do something new and commit to it--to start a new pattern in my behavior--I start a list of numbers. Let me explain.

Imagine you want to do a better job of consistently flossing your teeth before bed. Just start a list and after you floss, write the number one. Track your flossing "streak" by writing the number two the next day. Maybe you miss a day, or run out of floss, or just can't find the time. That's okay, but your streak is over. The next day, you start over again by writing the number one. Once you get a nice, long streak, though, going back to one feels awful. 

The University of Connecticut women's basketball team has had three winning streaks of over 70 games since the 2000-2001 season. Their current streak has reached 94 games. The team has also won four straight national championships. You know why? Because they hate going back to zero. But I guarantee that the morning they do, they just figure, "time to start another streak."

My students have patterns they want to change, but changing a pattern can be tough. For some students it's a lack of class participation ("Just start a streak of making one comment in class each day and write it down," I suggest), while for others it is staying organized or printing off their homework before class begins. For me, I've decided to start sharing an "I've noticed..." moment with at least one student each day. As a result, I spend all morning trying to notice things about my students, seeking out opportunities to send the message that "I see you." This heightened awareness has made me more responsive and has raised my emotional intelligence. I'm noticing more changes in my students' emotions because I need to acknowledge someone...at first, I needed to notice them because I didn't want my little notebook to start again with the number 1, but now the streak is simply growing because it's become a part of me, a part of my rhythm, my routine, my identity.

I've also started organizing something in my life for five minutes each day. One day it's the medicine cabinet in my bathroom, the next it's my desk at school, or a bookshelf, or the trunk of my car. Just five minutes, but it's a pattern. A streak. A way of keeping myself accountable for being the protagonist of my own life.