How Do You Get Pumped - Raise the Stoke Factor?! #KidsDeserveIt #savmp

This video is a bit old, but so fun to watch. At first you may feel it's the type of message to watch before you go heli skiing or something, but I see something deeper.

Hunter Pence has an amazing way of rallying his team, getting pumped to win games, bringing everyone together in the locker room and on the field. He raises the stoke factor for sure!

How do you get pumped? How do you get those around you pumped? How do you raise the stoke factor for kids?

Our goal is different than winning baseball games, but we do strive for many wins throughout each school day with students. How do you make this happen? 

Everyone of course has a different style and approach. I'm not on par with Hunter Pence, but I love high energy and believe pumping students and staff up is super valuable! 

This brings me to an EdCamp session that I ran last year around School Culture. The group was pretty large and had some really notable people attending (I won't name drop) and the conversation was really flowing. Someone in the group (not a Principal) started pushing back on me about my approach, and how about the Principal who follows you? 

- It's not fair

- They may not have the same energy or approach

- Shouldn't you just be calm and focus on good instructional strategies

- Your style is too unique, most Principals don't have tons of energy

- WHAT?!

I was taken back for sure and continued to listen. There actually wasn't an opportunity to talk with that person again during the short EdCamp session or even after. But I've thought about the conversation a lot. 

Everyone has their own leadership style. My belief is that people want to be pumped up, which makes them excited to be their best for the team. You can only worry about your current team and with that, build other team members to be leaders, which I feel is the key! 

I had a brief but powerful Voxer conversation with a PLN member from New York yesterday. Her own child wasn't super excited about school as they had been in the past. Without knowing all the details, I wonder if they're pumped for school? What helps kids and teachers want to be at school?

How do you get pumped and raise the stoke factor for kids, so they want to be at school?