Test Drive Better
Your car. Comfortable seats. You know it has that scratch when you got to close to your mailbox. That whir when you start it, it’s familiar. Even the spot on the back seat where you daughter spilled her breakfast, it’s familiar. Remember when you got the new car? It was exciting. It had the “new car smell.” You were never sure just how quickly to take off and sometimes you even peeled out and then looked around to see if anyone noticed. You couldn’t find the headlights in the dark and your wipers went crazy. Now? You can turn the wipers on without looking. You came to enjoy something better by letting go of something comfortable.
Your favorite lesson plan. Your time-tested unit plan. Your room arrangement. Your PowerPoint slides. Your delivery of content. Your assessment strategy. The way things have always been done. Comfortable. Familiar. Safe. Sometimes it’s time for a test drive. It’s time to just peel out, go somewhere new, and take a chance. Sometimes the only thing that holds us back from better is ourselves.
Fasten your seatbelts. Leave your comfort zone. Better is just around the corner.
What did you do in school today?
I can remember my parents asking me this question. I also remember saying, in a low, dull voice, “Oh, nothin'”. This question today? Think of the answers kids can give.
We skyped with a class in (inset name of other country…continent even).
We posted our presentations in Edmodo to share with our penpals in (insert name of another state).
We blogged about our field trip.
We looked at photos taken of the solar flares.
We created a timeline of our entire school year in Capzles.
We analyzed animal behavior by watching webcams from the zoo.
We planned a new playground with Google Sketchup.
We tweeted about the weather with (insert country here).
Do you ever stop to realize how amazing it is that we teach in the time we teach in? So many opportunities for collaboration, creativity, and connections. To think, I used to be excited in class when the purple mimeograph copies were warm. Our kids have learning at their fingertips. Not just a little learning. Not just some paragraph to read. The world. This video? Covers a trip around the world in 4 seasons and 5 continents. I watched this today and thought, whoa. The whole world. In a few minutes. Just like that. Teaching today? It’s pretty awesome when you think about it.
Nobody Said It Would Be Easy
We practice everything in school. Math facts. Routines. Spelling words. Keyboarding. Basketball. Soccer. Vocabulary. Practice, practice, practice. But what do we really need to practice? Struggle. Failure. Making mistakes. Because the thing about practicing is you learn from it. You get better. You improve. Life is full of those moments. If we try to keep them out of our classrooms and keep learning safe and easy, then we keep learning out of our classrooms, too. We think when our kids succeed immediately, we’ve done our jobs. Our job is not to show kids the right answers. Our job is to allow our kids to experience failure, learn from it, and facilitate growth. Nobody said it would be easy. But, it’s worth it.
Believe In What You Are Doing
I’d like to think Will Rogers was talking about teaching. 🙂
