On Your Mark, Get Set, Go: Making Our Dreams Come True in Education

When I was in elementary school, there were two consistent lies I told.

Confession time.

The first was that my best friend, Laura, and I were twins. When people challenged us—pointing out that we didn’t share a last name and lived in different houses—we revised the story. We weren’t twins after all; we were stepsisters.

The second lie was even better.

I convinced people that I was related to Laverne from the sitcom Laverne and Shirley. Her character’s name was Laverne DeFazio, and mine—Fazio—felt close enough to make the story believable. My dad played along, which sealed the deal. I was so proud to be a (fake) part of Laverne’s family.

School was the perfect place for these stories to live.

It offered me experiences I didn’t have at home. I had a “stepsister” who dressed like me and looked like me. My classmates believed I was related to a television star. What more could a kid want?

In one word: freedom.

Freedom to imagine.
Freedom to belong.
Freedom to experience more.

At home, freedom was limited. We were an immigrant family in a new land, with broken English and few financial resources. My parents were strict and kept us close to home. Our world was small, centered around extended family. I did learn to cook—but what I learned most deeply was how to live in a world of “no.”

And I spent my childhood figuring out how to get to “yes.”

How was I going to make things happen?

That’s where Laverne and Shirley came in. The show represented freedom, fun, and possibility. Their theme song—“Making Our Dreams Come True”—became my personal anthem:

There’s nothing we won’t try,
Never heard the word impossible.
There’s no stopping us,
We’re gonna do it.
On your mark, get set, and go now.

In many ways, that song still defines my life as an educational leader.

Who among us hasn’t been told something wouldn’t work?
Had accomplishments overlooked or claimed by others?
Been told, “You can’t do that,” or “That’s just not possible”?

But what if we didn’t let the naysayers stop us?

What if, instead, we asked: How else might this be possible?
How do we make our dreams come true?

In education especially, this question matters. Do we dare to dream big—or do we settle for the norms of past decades? What do we encourage our students and our children to do if we, as adults, are unwilling to model courage, imagination, and persistence ourselves?

Doing things differently in education is not easy. Change is messy. At times, we want to give up. Yet there’s often a quiet voice inside that says: Don’t settle.

Making dreams real is far more complicated than a slogan on a bumper sticker. Real life—and real leadership—is uncomfortable. It requires walking against the grain, being challenged, and learning to sit with uncertainty.

You have to be comfortable feeling uncomfortable.

If you are, you just might have the recipe for making dreams come true.

I mentioned earlier that I learned to cook. According to The Huffington Post, there are ten “easy” steps to making your dreams come true: know your dream, believe in it, release fear, take action, love yourself, learn from others’ success, treat mistakes as lessons, value small decisions, break bad habits, and believe the universe is friendly.

That mindset matters. But in education, reaching for the stars often means recognizing that even reaching the ceiling can be a significant accomplishment.

As Tamara Levitt reminds us:
Aspire as high as you can dream, but celebrate actions close to the ground. Smaller scale doesn’t mean less important.

Let’s recognize the good work happening every day in children’s lives. Let’s name it. Let’s celebrate it.

No matter your role in education, remember this: dreams start with you and me. They start with all of us.

So—on your mark, get set, and go now.

Instead of turning away from our dreams, let’s turn toward them.

After all, how else will we make our dreams come true?

Reference

Morton, K. (2014, October 21). 10 easy steps to making your dreams come true. HuffPost.
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/10-easy-steps-to-making-y_b_6014030