Why Do Teams Succeed

[gblake]

Originally Posted by tindleroot

Sounds like you may be beating your own dead horse here - I think it's pretty clear what form of success the thread is discussing.

Maybe I'm thinking more about what a School Board is interested in hearing than the OP was when they wrote their post.

I don't say that to attack the OP, or their immediate intention, but to instead just get them to think twice about whether they are asking the right question.

School Boards often define success differently than individual teams do...

If the OP isn't interested in my thoughts, they can easily ignore them.

Blake

[staplemonx]

Originally Posted by gblake

If the OP isn't interested in my thoughts, they can easily ignore them.

We are interested in any and every take on the question.

[mrnoble]

Someday I'd like to visit one of the teams listed, to see if spending time with them would give any extra insight. Until I get that chance, I think I agree with Karthik. What success 1339 has had has been largely due to a passion to see students do well in one of the best experiences available at the high school level. That led (after years of floundering) to finding resources (like CD), and to better organization, and to hard work. The passion has grown and spread since 2012 and we've had several good years. Each year we are working harder and earlier in the year, and I fully expect that this year's crew will have a fantastic season as a result of the time, passion and effort they are putting in right now. I know we aren't on anyone's radar, but I'm thrilled with what our team has made possible for our students.

[GeeTwo]

My first thought on reading OP was to essentially write gblake's post above. +1!

Also, as I posted earlier this afternoon on the "fold" thread:

Originally Posted by GeeTwo

..inspired, educated alumni change the world.

We won our first Blue Banner at Bayou this year. I had dyed my beard green, yelled myself hoarse, and was every bit as thrilled as I was when the Pirates won the World Series in 1971 and 1979 or when the Saints won the Super Bowl at the end of the 2008 season, and even more proud as I had helped it happen. However, the real tug on the heartstrings came at the next team meeting. While we knew that we had plenty of work to do, we gave the students the floor to express what the team meant to them, fully aware that it might take hours. We almost got some "work" done, but at the last call, J. took the offer. He didn't settle for the floor, but the little guy stood on a table. I had known J. for at least four years already, as his family attended my church. Four years ago, J. was painfully introverted. PAINFULLY. Gixxy helped him through an out-of-state mission trip, and then FRC brought him out of his shell more recently. The team was a key part of FIXING A PERSON. That's success in my book that goes way, way beyond a blue banner. J's story was followed by at least a dozen more (all delivered while standing on the table, now that the precedent was established). Every one of them was pushed from a life of mediocrity or insignificance towards a life helping people live better lives. A dozen such stories constitutes unqualified team success in my book.
I'm not going to claim that we've achieved the same level of success as 148, 254, 118, or 1114, but I also know that no one will ever convince me that I was wasting my time; that's unqualified success by my criteria.
I have not answered the poll, as I do not understand its criteria.

[waialua359]

Originally Posted by gblake

Maybe I'm thinking more about what a School Board is interested in hearing than the OP was when they wrote their post.

I don't say that to attack the OP, or their immediate intention, but to instead just get them to think twice about whether they are asking the right question.

School Boards often define success differently than individual teams do...

If the OP isn't interested in my thoughts, they can easily ignore them.

Blake

I'm glad that you and many others (presuming) have faith in your respective School Boards. In our State, almost all of them have never been in education and/or attended public schools, and it shows.
Sometimes, just sometimes, school boards can outline their definition of success differently than what teachers, an individual school, and their respective community thinks. The culture and beliefs of our program are in line with our school community, IMO.

[LCJ]

I am a student so I obviously don't have as much experience as many of the other people who have already posted in this thread, but I am most successful when I am absolutely in love with what I am doing and when I am doing everything I can possibly do to be successful.
I know there are circumstances where just working hard won't cut it, but I'm sure that no team will be successful without working hard (and smart) in the first place.