Almost Brain Surgery - Sam Stecher

Recently I had the chance to reconnect with a guy that was around during the formative years of Sam Stecher’s education/life philosophy. Like 10 or 15 years ago I was pretty entrenched in the Love & Logic school of classroom management. Mark was in that camp too. We didn’t just use the skills in our classrooms. We read the books, attended the workshops, taught the classes, worked at the conferences, and eventually spoke at number of the Love & Logic national events. We even wore Love & Logic polos. That’s being deep in the life.

One of the guys that was also in that life was Dr. Charles Fay. Charles is the son of Jim Fay, founder of the Love & Logic Institute, and presently serves as president of the company. Charles was good enough to give Mark and I no small amount of perspective regarding both our classrooms and our eventual aspirations as educational consultants.

Eventually Mark and I branched off to do our own thing which is why your eyes are on MissionMonday content right now. The benefit of our time with Charles gave us some solid direction in that pursuit.

When I saw Charles was going to be in my area for a workshop I sent him an email about recording a podcast and we set up a session for the night before his gig.

Early in our podcast interview Charles said something pretty powerful.

“The exciting piece on a neurological level when we are building that relationship we’re also helping the brain heal because” in building those relationships we stimulate the production of “neurochemicals that allow the frontal cortex to start working.”

Go back and read that again.

Take moment to realize what you are doing when you intentionally engage in behavior designed to foster positive relationships with those students who need it most.

Hang on. I gotta hit the caps lock.

YOU ARE AFFECTING THE BRAIN AT A NEUROCHEMICAL LEVEL.

YOU ARE ACTIVELY CHANGING BRAIN CHEMISTRY AND FUNCTION.

THIS IS AS CLOSE AS YOU CAN GET TO BRAIN SURGERY WITHOUT A BONE SAW.

Thanks for letting me get loud for a bit but, brothers and sisters, do you get that? What we are talking about doing on a consistent basis, the interventions we hook you up with every week, these are not just feel good, kumbaya, golly isn’t that swell activities. They are essential to the healing of brains of the people who need it most. And what’s good for the brain in need of healing is also good for the maintenance of the brain in good health.

Keep it up all y’all. It’s good for the brains.

You can read more of what Mark and Sam have to say in their book It Happens In The Hallway. Just click here.