My favorite word to use in teaching? YES.
A few years ago, we were doing a project called Resilience Cafe. Students chose and learned about someone in history who was resilient and chose someone in their own life who had the same qualities. They studied and wrote Spoken Word Poems and performed them on a school-wide exhibition night, also inviting the people they wrote about.
A week before exhibition, Jordan (student) came to me. He could see a big problem because we had too many guests and not enough space. The people we wrote about wouldn't be able to hear their poems.
Jordan had a plan and asked if he could solve the problem. I said yes.
About a week later, I received an email from a parent who was asking for "Jordan's link" again because she had lost the email. I had no idea what she was talking about.
Jordan had created and sent out a sign-up list for all our parents and guests. He divided the event into six time slots and numbered the tables so they could reserve a place for the time their child was presenting. He also recruited other students to be hosts for the evening: to show guests to their reserved tables when they checked in at the door.
It was brilliant. It was one of the most moving and powerful exhibitions I've seen.
All because of YES.