Tuesday, August 20, 2019

Who do you think you are, dreaming about being a big star? Equity and Fear


"Kids were laughing in my classes
While I was scheming for the masses
Who do you think you are?
Dreaming 'bout being a big star" 




Goals/dreams are always impossible and nearly invisible things that hang perpetually in our future.  They wait.  They're silent. They almost seem to run away from us.  But goals and dreams, like mile markers on a highway, let us know where we are going and give context to whether we're headed in the "right" direction or not.  

Uncertainty is this weird unmeasurable thing.  It's empty and intimidating.

Risk, however, is quantifying or taking a bite out of uncertainty.
Many of those new to blended learning will count, among the list of struggles, that there is uncertainty in trying out something new in the classroom.  It's exciting, but also scary at the same time. But if you take a measurable step toward Blended Learning then you are controlling the risks involved with trying something new.  You are giving form to uncertainty and, thereby, controlling it.
Change for the sake of change isn't a good idea most of the time.  Change for the sake of benefitting your students? That's admirable.  But change reveals new horizons and those new horizons show us potentially newer and better changes for our student's betterment. 
Change is going to happen. The sometimes slow but always certain current of change has momentum…tremendous momentum. But it is dumb and unrefined momentum, like an undeniable ocean current. Yes, ocean currents can pull you out to the sea, but they can also be used to navigate that same sea in order to reach incredible destinations.

The calculating acts of shifting your sails or pushing the rudder a certain way are risks that help navigate through uncertainty.
The trick in being a teacher is to see the questions their adult selves will ask & address them in the here and now.  I would then base my calculated risks in class based on both my student's real needs and what I imagined their future selves might ask of me.
Change is happening and you can’t stop it…so lean into change by taking a risk.  Let calculated risks help you, your students, & America's Future (patriotic music and eagle noise in background)!
Here's a slide I like to use in our Blended Learning Academy.  It's one example for how to take baby steps toward blended learning.

No comments:

Post a Comment