As a teacher, I am constantly faced with professional dissonance- a battle between theory vs. practice.
Every September as I meet a new group of students, with their new needs and challenges, I struggle with whether I'm really cut out to be a teacher. Do I really have what it takes?
I read these beautiful and inspiring blogs about how the real education happens through inquiry and exploration... how we need to move away from worksheets and embrace true curiosity, student ownership and individualized learning.
And I LIVE for things. I research and read and create lessons and materials to bring about those key elements in my classroom.
But sometimes you get a group that isn't quite ready for that.
And when I try... I get crickets. Total lack of engagement and attention. And if you know me, you know my lessons tend to be hands-on, quick-paced and deep thinking. But this year's group just isn't with me. (Yet).
And then I have well-meaning and non-judgemental observational comments by another teacher or EA saying, "wow, they are much noisier and distracted than they were with last year's teacher."
And my world falls apart.
At the end of my first week with them, I literally thought, "Ok, we need to go back to rows and concrete, step-by-step worksheets." Words I swore I'd never utter from my lips.
Can we pause for a moment and be honest with ourselves?
Whether it's open inquiry, new math, ownership of learning, project-based learning, discipline that does not embarrass or upset them...
am I the only one that's feeling that our pendulums are swinging way out of control sometimes?
Each of these elements has one thing in common- giving up control. And we all know there is a fine line between giving up control and actually losing control.
via GIPHY
Ha- the funny thing about this gif (I was looking for a pendulum swinging out of control) is that even though they are wildly out of synch near the beginning, they end up all coordinating and making some really interesting patterns in harmony.
Hmm. So maybe I need to stop whining, start with what my class needs, and gradually guide them to those places. As I learn this new group and their complex needs, I know it's going to take time and patience to get them to where I want them to be.
