Today is Friday. These three words typically elicit positive emotions and reactions from the people I interact with, including those that wish me a happy POETS day or TGIF. That’s our attitude, isn’t it? We can’t wait for our two-day break from the horrors of the workplace. Apparently it’s better for us to be miserable five days a week so that we REALLY enjoy our time off than doing something we love and feel privileged to do.
And so it is an American tradition that productivity on Fridays plummets. The longer the day goes, the less productive we become. It’s so prevalent that there’s nothing profound about the previous statement. It’s considered normal. We have lost the ability to finish with excellence.
Today, after four days of district testing, my students thought we’d have a free day. After all, it’s only one day until the weekend, why not just take it easy? Pop in a movie, maybe watch some funny videos, and call it a day. Why have school at all, then? Aren’t we just riding out the clock?
Choose to be excellent. Choose to not settle. If every Friday was viewed as “pre-Saturday” and you didn’t purpose to finish anything great, you are sacrificing far too much. There are 36 weeks in our school year. If I “took it easy” on Fridays, I’m giving up 1620 minutes *per class* of instructional time. This is time that great things could occur. What if I used 1620 minutes towards giving students the option to create something of their own choosing? Much like 20% time? What if these 1620 minutes were used to explore new topics? Or practice collaboration? Or any other myriad of things that can be accomplished in 1620 minutes?
Finish each class, each day, each week with excellence. Finish well. This single choice will put you far beyond “normal.” Don’t be normal, be excellent.
