May: It only has 31 Days - Really!

The phrase, “100 Days of May,” started cropping up at some point in the not too distant past and is used to describe the full-to-bursting-overwhelming-exhausting schedule of events as schools come to a close. It’s a metaphor for hectic-ness that has adhered itself to the story we tell about school life in the spring.

So exactly what is it? May events include everything imaginable: Major student academic deadlines and exams (APs still around in your school?), final presentations, school musical and dramatic performances, senior projects, promotions and graduations, Parent Association events, spring fundraisers, retirement parties— all on top of a regular schedule of schools, meetings, life, work.

It is also a state of mind. We gear up for a busy, busy, busy month, gird ourselves for the exhausting and exhilarating feel of it. And we press go.

Those of us in schools typically accept this frenzy is the way it is. Of course it needs to be an insane month because that’s just the way things are at this time of year.

We might also use a similar phrase for the “Tidal Wave of September” the “Grind of November,” or the “Blues of February.” Is there ever a quiet, “normal” and not over-scheduled time of year in schools? 

This is not to say we do not attempt to improve and redesign. And somehow we often end up in the same cycle of hectic and busy at this time of year. 

So, maybe it’s time to question how readily we accept what is. Instead of being a passive recipient to the 100 Days mythology, take just a little time to change your mindset, which might change you (and your school’s) feelings about the busy month ahead. 

Try Out These Exercises to Shift from Overwhelmed to Zen

Use metaphorical thinking

At L+D, we often start with metaphorical thinking. Assemble a group of people from your school for just one hour with an agenda to just think in metaphors to release yourself from “the way it is.” Metaphors allow us to visualize who we are in a fresh way. Just like the 100 Days of May (it’s actually just a metaphor), can you find multiple ways to describe a project or your school through another lens? The power of an effective metaphor is that it can provide you with insights about your current situation and also can –lightly–address the elephant in the room. It’s not “good” or “bad” but often offers ways to look at your school, May, a project with a refreshed lens. 

• Smart School, tidy garden with well-organized rows of fruits and vegetables, all timed to bloom at just the right moment but unexpected weeds are cropping up all over the place!

• Alternate Academy, closet that is overflowing with craft project materials that are started but not quite finished. Ane, we can’t quite get the door closed!

• Middle School spring events, a U-Haul trailer filled with equipment headed to recycling. 

What do you notice about the metaphors you create about your school? How might you use them to begin a dialogue with your colleagues about the story we create about our schools? Can you extend the metaphor for a deeper discussion of not only what you see on the surface but what might also be the story beneath the story. 

What new metaphors might you want to create about your school this month? Spend the last half of your one hour brainstorming new and more hopeful metaphors that could lead you to new and more hopeful ways of thinking and doing

Imagine something wildly different 

Use your creativity and imagination to explore how you might do something differently. How might May feel more like 31 days and not 100 days? Create a low-stakes, one-time “what if” task force to open up to the questions. 

In the wonderful and compact guide to design thinking, Make Possibilities Happen by Grace Hawthorne (a Stanford d.school guide), the author opens with “This book is a toolkit to snap you out of your zombie mode so you can scheme the impossible.” Until we acknowledge that we may actually be in a zombie state, blithely accepting what is coming our way without questioning other options, without intentionally redesigning for a significantly different experience, change is almost impossible. Stasis is the easiest way to go. Our human brain is wired for comfort, protection and safety. Risk is not our natural state. 

It’s amazing how many schools talk about change but actually don’t do much. Change is hard. We are afraid to offend someone, to disrupt the status quo, 

So, what if you could make a really big, exciting and audacious change? What would you do?

• Make May calm.

• Change the school year calendar.

• Let the students take the lead in designing final projects.

• Get rid of all formal exams.

• Move one quarter of the May events to some other time during the school year.

• Do some events every other year.

How might you, as a school leader, innovator and change maker, start the process toward a big change for your school? Don’t stop creating ideas just because it’s May; dive in and think about a positive, joyful and energizing process. 

In Make Possibilities Happen, Grace Hawthorne sets out a simple and engaging process to get you out of your zombie state, or “how to transform ideas into reality.” It’s another way to embrace the design thinking process.  

• SEE—What opportunities can you envision to change the way things are currently done. Make a long list of wildly crazy ideas. What might you trim, add, expand, delete. Truly brainstorm. 

• START—Quickly make a plan and draft low-fidelity prototype (that means just a sketch–keep it simple) on just one of the ideas on your list. 

DO —Ok, this is where we get stuck. Is there something on this list you can try out? It doesn’t need to be a BIG item. Maybe it’s as easy as exchanging a lunch celebration with a series of faculty thank you notes or gift cards. Can you simplify to enhance? Pick one small thing and give it a go.

“Compost” what is ready to go

Liberating Structures, a website with tools for anyone in need rethinking a complex challenge, offers an excellent tool, “Ecocyle Planning” for examining the cycle of events in an organization and ways to rethink what is needed now what we can put to rest and what we might want to redevelop for the future. 

The Ecocyling model gives groups a structure and a literal map to examine where events are in the cycle of the school. Perhaps use this to just analyze the month of May. What isn’t serving the school well at this point? Is it time to bravely put something to rest, knowing it just might evolve or be reborn into a newer, better way of being down the road? 

• What if the school committed to not having any events the last two weeks of May to allow classes to create their own closing rituals and creative learning assessment? 

• Perhaps both are sunsetted and an outdoor education trip is given space to move from fall to spring?

• Causally ask a parent or a colleague what events they feel are a bit tired. Just gather information for your own thoughts about eco-cycling. 

When all else fails, embrace Wabi Sabi

I recently visited Japan and as I watched the beautiful and yet fleeting beauty of the cherry trees, I thought about the concept of “Wabi Sabi.” In the book, In Wabi Sabi: The Wisdom in Imperfection, author Nobuo Suzuki offers “Wabi sabi is a way of seeing life and the universe; its central principle is acceptance of imperfection and the temporary nature of all that resides in the world. It’s the beauty of the incomplete, the impermanent and the imperfect.” While I was hiking, I noticed some cherry blossoms were in full bloom while in other areas, the peak had passed. The elevation impacted the cycle of the flowering so we had to stop and appreciate the temporal view. 

If you can’t control or change the events in your school this May, you can always shift to take better care of what’s happening inside of you.The month of May may not be perfect. And yet it is certainly beautiful at moments and fleeting. There is nothing like watching the lovely moments when students demonstrate their learning with passion and clarity, when the elementary school students say a meaningful thank you to their teachers or when colleagues come together for their final reflections on the year. It’s the same with the 100 Days of May. It will be over before we know it. However you approach the 31 days or 100 days, it’s fleeting and imperfect–and still a wonder.