Chapter 7 is all about being a force for good at your school. Oftentimes, you can not change decisions that are made, what you have to teach, your staff, or your students, but you do have the power in how you proactively respond.
Here are a few pointers from the book:
1. Don't engage negative co-workers in any way whenever possible - no matter what you say, the Debbie Downers are only going to see problems and want to drag everyone down.
*Don't let them waste your precious time, gripping to you or telling you why a new policy isn't going to work or add to your burden. Odds are you may agree with their perspective, but if you are powerless to change the decision then why talk about why it's bad. You already know that you are going to figure out how you can make the decision work.
2. Share what's working and support one another's teaching
*My takeaway was to go visit other classrooms (not just when you "have to" for peer reviews). Chances are that you will see something that sparks your imagination or maybe you can just simply point out to them what they are doing right. As Angela points out, it's rare for teachers to get genuine positive feedback. Be that force for good in your fellow teacher's life.
3. Stealthy JOY - One person on the Facebook book club page shared about secretly passing around an item around campus, I think it was a dinosaur toy. It would just secretly appear in a classroom and the fun was in how long it took the teacher to notice it and then her job was to place it in the next person's room. I am so ALL OVER this idea! I just bought a stuffed bull dog animal, a bull dog is our school mascot.
Seriously, I can not wait until school begins to implement the gazillion of ideas I've read about in Unshakeable by Angela Watson, as well as the amazing ideas that teachers have shared on the Facebook page!
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