Learn, Think, Write

Organizing myself online

Give Yourself a Break

Egg brokenphoto © 2009 Fredrik Bølstad | more info (via: Wylio)
A member of one of our PLP cohorts laments the lack of time she has to participate fully in our discussions and projects. She struggles with hours of papers to grade, her volunteer work at church, and a three-year-old who demands her attention the moment she walks in the door after school.

My advice? Be kind to yourself.

Our participating teachers want to learn. They want to understand recent research and reports that indicate our need to embrace change and shift our thinking. They know schools and classrooms need to change.

But we can’t do it overnight, as much as some folks would like. I also believe our personalities, life issues, and even predisposition to control affect our how much time we are willing and able to devote to sharing online.

My advice, especially during this time of year, is be kind to yourself.

Start your day being in the moment. Be sure to breathe deeply and smile often. Do the best you can with what you have.

Also, consider this: giving yourself time to participate might seem selfish. But taking time to grow and learn might give you just the energy you need to keep going.

My advice? Don’t be so hard on yourself. Figure out what matters right now. And do it.

There is just one life for each of us:  our own.  ~Euripides

The Poet Speaks

What we call the beginning is often the end
And to make an end is to make a beginning.
The end is where we start from. T.S. Elliot, Little Gidding

As I sat in church Sunday, listening to the Homily on beginnings and endings and the coming of Advent, I thought, too, about teaching. Our school years certainly begin and end, giving us closure on one episode and an ability to re-do or start again. But I also thought about how difficult this shift in thinking about teaching and learning is for some. Letting go of traditional beliefs means an end to what we know, what is comfortable, and what made sense in our past.

As Carol Dweck says, people hold onto a mindset for a reason. At some point in their past it made sense in forming who they were and who they wanted to be. When we ask people to shift their mindsets about how people learn and what they should do in the classroom, that “end” can be difficult, almost painful. As Dweck says, it’s like letting go of yourself.

But beginnings can also hopeful if we approach them well. We need to look for examples of what is working, using those positive models to frame reasons for change. As the Heaths said in Switch: Knowledge alone doesn’t change behavior. “To create and sustain change, you’ve got to act more like a coach and less like a scorekeeper. You’ve got to embrace a growth mindset and instill it in your team.”