1MT: One More Thing

1MT: One More Thing

Many times, when learning about a new initiative, or idea, a teacher’s first reaction can be, “Not ONE MORE THING!”  This phrase, “one more thing” can be heard in conference rooms, teacher’s lounges, and school parking lots across our great land.  And let’s be honest, teacher’s plates are not just full; they are OVERFLOWING!  It is the nature of the profession.  But, there is always a couple of teachers who see these as opportunities, even from the minute they are presented.  Wheels start turning about how we can be better tomorrow that we are today.

Which makes me think about a Paralympian that I had the honor of hearing speak last month at the annual Hasbrook Awards in Indianapolis.  Josh Sundquist, a Paralympian skier and US Amputee Soccer team player, has a life motto.  His actual life motto, the one he says to himself multiple times per day is: 1MT.  Yup, it stands for “One More Thing”. When he was struggling the most with the loss of his leg, and the hope of being an Olympic level downhill skier, his coach helped him to realize that if he really, really wanted to be better tomorrow than he was today, he would have to do…you guessed it…One More Thing.  One more practice, one more run, one more hill, one more second shaved off his time.  He explained to us that there is always, always 1MT we can do to improve.

We know this is true, right?  Cognitively, we understand that to keep growing and improving, we can’t just keep doing what we have always done.  So what about our full plates?   I wonder if adopting Josh’s mindset that 1MT is not a BAD thing, but the very thing we need to KEEP GOING, might change that feeling that teachers get when introduced to 1MT. 

In my travels around Indiana, every time I have the privilege of sharing professional development with instructional coaches and teachers, I know that I represent 1MT.  I am bringing new ideas and frameworks and facilitating discussions about how things could be better wherever I go.  It is my fervent hope that those I work with see our time together as worthwhile and helpful in moving them forward in their journey, even though it may be “one more thing”.

Actually, isn’t it the “one more thing” that helps us as we agonize over a student who isn’t engaged or learning? How many times do we stand on our head trying to be sure that we reach every learner every day?  It is in our nature to try 1MT.  A teacher’s work is never done.  Even when we turn off the lights in the classroom for the day, the wheels are still turning.  And they are still turning when we turn the lights on the next day.

The hardest thing about 1MT is when it isn’t our idea, when we don’t see its relevance to our class, our students, our subject.  But consider the 1MT that WE can add to our department, our school, our school district.  If the 1MT being presented isn’t something we find valuable, then what can we contribute? All of us have a 1MT that improves our instruction, student engagement and achievement.  So we must share! 

Thank you, Josh Sundquist, for helping me to think about One More Thing in a new way: 1MT.  Never again will I use those words in vain.  When they cross my mind, which they surely will, I will think of you, flying down that mountain or wearing that long awaited soccer uniform, and I will translate those words into code: 1MT.  It is a mindset, an openness to change for the better, and the willingness to try and fail and try again.  To grow, to learn, to improve, we can always do 1MT.