Every week, and sometimes more often, I receive a newsletter from Exchange Press called ExchangeEveryday. My friend and colleague, Carol Hillman forwards it to me and I love getting it from her. Recently, I officially signed up which is easy to do. This newsletter is filled with thoughtful articles and references on many subjects of interest to teachers and parents of young children. The article below is one example. A few days ago, I forwarded it on to our other friends and colleagues at the Cramer Institute because it is so aligned with their work in asset-based thinking. Kathy Cramer's new book, Lead Positive, is rich with stories about what can happen if we look for assets and build on them in our lives and when we work with others.

Ashley and I have been influenced by the work of the Cramer Institute and it is now fundamental to the way we work in schools. This way of working seems to create energy and momentum in many ways, as well as a sense of possibility and reassurance and trust. Below, find a simple story from ExchangeEveryDay that illustrates the power of starting with assets rather than deficits. May we all take this way of being in the world to heart.

Supervision Advice from 1936 June 2, 2014A person can grow only as much as his horizon allows. -John Powell"Make the fault seem easy to correct." This is one of the principles from Dale Carnegie's classic, How to Win Friends and Influence People. Although this book was written in 1936, in 2013 it was still listed as a one of the nation's best-selling management books. As Carnegie does throughout the book, he uses stories to illustrate this principle:"A bachelor friend of mine, about forty years old, became engaged and his fiancée persuaded him to take some belated dancing lessons. 'The Lord knows I needed some dancing lessons,' he confessed as he told me the story, 'for I danced just as I did when I first started twenty years ago. The first teacher I engaged probably told me the truth. She said I was all wrong; I would just have to forget everything and begin all over again. But that took the heart out of me. I had no incentive to go on. So I quit her."'The next teacher may have been lying, but I liked it. She said nonchalantly that my dancing was a bit old-fashioned perhaps, but the fundamentals were all right, and she assured me I wouldn't have any trouble learning a few new steps. The first teacher had discouraged me by emphasizing my mistakes. The new teacher did the opposite. She kept praising the things I did right and minimizing my errors..."'Now my common sense tells me I will always be a fourth-rate dancer, yet... I know I am a better dancer than I would have been if she hadn't told me I had a natural sense of rhythm. That encouraged me. That gave me hope. That made me want to improve.'"