Another Thing?I was really inspired by Alex’s speech in assembly last week. I thought she did so well to frame the irony of our human resistance to change vs our desire to see progress around us. It’s an all too familiar story. Just when you think you’ve settled into this new routine, you’ve figured out the baby’s sleep patterns, you’ve adjusted to the new expectations… bam! They hit you with another change!! And so it all begins again. So what makes us so resistant to these changes? I don’t think age = cynicism quite covers all the bases. But I do think that there is a sense of ‘having been round this mountain before’. This new innovation that will supposedly revolutionise our lives is really just a rebranding of something we’ve seen before, right? Progress is impossible without change, and those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything. George Bernard Shaw
Resist Change or Drive it?So what makes us so happy to settle in with our comfortable way of doing things and bemoan anyone who comes along and tries to shift us? I think the answer lies in our sense of what is being changed. Everyday we are in the classroom with our students doing our subject area (I don’t say teaching because on any given day we could be facilitating all sorts of learning experiences). We know them. We know what they enjoy, we know what music they listen to, we know when they are engaged. And we know when we need to make changes to adapt to the needs of our students. Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world. Nelson Mandela ![]() As teachers, we are also designers. We are the ones who design our curriculums and learning experiences (here is a bit more about design thinking if you’re interested). The first steps for designers is to consider the constraints or limitations that are in place around them. What can you change? What elements are you in control of? What limits can you push, which ones are fixed? What changes can you make? So, sick of change?When you put it in that order, change initiatives should be driven from the classroom. From the needs of our students (oooh, that sounds suspiciously like our new inquiry model), and from our goals to see their outcomes improve. Innovative practice from within the classroom should be what leads changes in school. Progress doesn’t come from policy and procedures, progress comes when groups of people decide that it is time to make a change. And we're not the only ones that feel like this either! Just google: Learning to Change - Changing to Learn Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we've been waiting for. We are the change that we seek. Barack Obama ~Amy-Lee Budd
1 Comment
Kathryn Dick
18/3/2017 11:14:57 am
This is a great read with a sunny Saturday morning and a coffee. I think as teachers we are always wrestling with change. It's exciting and exhausting at the same time. I totally resonated with your comment about change coming from inside our classrooms. I think if we put our girls at the centre, it's easier to embrace. I know for me, it's as easy (or as startling in this case) to find out that the quietest kid in the class is actually quite left-of-that-centre and likes My Chemical Romance and Green Day. Embracing the assumptions was key to changing my mindset and working with her and using that 'emo' stuff to engage her. ;-) Cheers, Amy-Lee
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