Changing Our View

I recently attended the South Carolina Council of Teachers of English conference and heard Kylene Beers speak.  She talked about No Child Left Behind and other timely issues in education.  Her opening quote was, "When we change the way we look at things, the things we look at will change."  That really got me thinking about how we as educators need to change our views as we move toward providing 21st century skills for our students. At one point during her speech, Kylene asked the audience to complete a seemingly simple task - moving your right foot clockwise while drawing a figure six in the air with your left hand.  Try it and you'll find out just how difficult it can be to learn something.  In order to complete the task, we have to unlearn the traditional method that we have been taught.

We get students in the classroom every day who are not going to be able to learn what we teach in the traditional way.  In order for those students to achieve, we need to look with new eyes at what we're doing in the classroom.  Transforming how we do things can be a very difficult task.  I talk a lot with others about the importance of a professional learning network as we try new strategies in the classroom and work place.  We need to be able to share ideas and have others challenge us.  By talking with another teacher, I was able to see how I could teach a child to draw that six in the air while moving his or her right foot in a clockwise direction.  Without the discussion, I would have taken a lot longer to find the solution.

One book that I would recommend for anyone looking to change the way that they do things is "Switch: How to Change Things When Change is Hard" by Chip and Dan Health.  The premise is simple: Our emotions are the elephant and our rational side is the rider.  In order to bring about change, we need to appeal to someone's emotions using compelling ideas and we need to change the path so that the rider must change in order to move forward. We need to find the balance between emotional drive and reason.

How do we get others to change the way they've always looked at things and see the classroom from a new perspective?  How do we get that student to succeed at a seemingly impossible task?  We have to change the direction so that the solution becomes more obvious.  Over the new week, try looking at the problems that you encounter in your classroom or office as a chance to find new and creative ways to solve those challenges.  Enjoy the journey!

Fail Often...Succeed Sooner

In October, I had the opportunity to attend the Schlechty Center's Working on the Work (WOW) Conference.  Phil Schlechty, the author of Leading for Learning and Working on the Work, provides a great professional development experience for participants.  I attended the Design 2.0 sessions and returned to work with great ideas to share with other teachers in my district.  As we walked through the process of designing engaging student work, one participant made a profound statement, "Fail Often...Succeed Sooner."  This video on the design process shows how we must go through a trial and error process to arrive at the right design for our customers.

The idea that we must fail is not very popular in education.  Administrators and parents expect their students to succeed, and many people believe that success is about passing rates on standardized tests.  As a result of these expectations, many teachers feel that they can't try new teaching strategies that might jeopardize the success rate of their students.  We settle for "ritual engagement" and "passive compliance" instead of "authentic engagement."  The only way to have actively engaged students is to know our students and design work that is meaningful and valuable.  And that process, as many of us know from experience, can be a bumpy ride.  Some strategies that we try will not work as planned, and we'll be back to the drawing board just like the designer in that video.

With so much on the line, how can we move forward in designing project and problem-based learning experiences for our students?  My suggestion is to create your own coaching circle of colleagues who can cheer you on, give you feedback, and be there for support when something doesn't turn out the way that you planned.  At the WOW conference, I was able to participate in a coaching circle as I designed a lesson.  I enjoyed taking the lesson back to the circle and having the participants ask me questions to help me with my design.

As educators, we must continually reflect on our failures and successes to provide the right learning experience for each of our students.  The key is to step out on a limb and surround yourself with teachers who are working through the same process.  Take that chance, and your failures will turn into brilliant successes.