Keep it Simple, Less can be More

The easy. The obvious. Why are we spending so much time coming up with complicated plans and strategies when the best ways to connect are so simple?

Before winter break, I asked all of our staff members to write a postcard note to one of their students. We mailed these out over the break so that during that time away, our students still would know that we care about them. (Shout out to Mrs. Stovall @cfstovall43, one of our awesome 5th grade teachers for the idea!)

I knew reading these before they went out how powerful they were going to be for the kids. Behind the words were real emotions and feelings that the teachers used the ink to show on paper. In many cases, the comments weren’t even that personal, but that wasn’t the point. The power was in the effort.

The comments this week from the students as they came back to school to their teachers demonstrated how much these meant to the students and their families. These kids came back to school in the new year with a different feeling in their heart about their teacher.

Like our #GoodNewsCalloftheDay phone calls home, postcards being mailed home is a quick and easy method to show we care. Why are we making it tougher than it needs to be with convoluted forms and lengthy processes disguised as so-called best practices?

Less can be more. Especially if the less is more meaningful and if less means that we do it more often!  Let’s get back to keeping it simple and easy!