If you keep doing what you've always done...

January 20, 2017
"If you keep doing what you've always done...."
I see this often in education, teachers who have always taught a certain topic or idea in a certain manner. Why change? The thinking behind this why fix what isn't broken? But what if you are so entrenched in your own way of thinking and doing that you can't even see if things are broken?  Change is hard, we all know this, and  try to manage change but in a sneaky way that doesn't require us to actually change. We as teachers will go along with change if we can still keep doing what we've always done.

If you are lucky, you have administrators who actively encourage innovation and trying new things. But that's just talk unless you the teacher are willing to step out on that limb and take a chance.  Isn't that what we tell our students? Reach out, try, and don't be worried about the outcome.
Here are my steps for trying new things"

1. pick one thing you'd like to try
2. let go of what the outcome should be
3. let your students know you're trying something new and to patient
4. step out on that branch and try
5. be kind to yourself if it didn't work
6. research and try something else.

Why bother with this?
Because I feel that a big part of our job is to make our classes be a place where students feel safe trying things or attempting to answer hard questions. We need to model the behavior we wish to see.
EH