Yesterday was a very long day. From consoling a teary student, to working with a more experienced teacher on marking moderation, to introducing a new unit, it was one of those really busy ones. When my day was more or less finished, I glanced down at my feet. Why were my new-school-year new shoes already scuffed? Why was it only my right foot?
I laughed internally when I realized that I had, in my hurry that morning, slipped on a new shoe and an old shoe. Yes, I bought the same shoes this year as I did last year. They look exactly the same except that my old pair (kept as a backup pair under my desk) have a different colour buckle and are considerably more scuffed up.
In our Cohort 21 Twitter chat last night, I mentioned this and managed to get some amused responses. But then I got to thinking that there has to be a teaching metaphor here.
Folks, I got through my day. It wasn’t that easy, but I did it. I didn’t have both of my shiny new shoes, but I DIDN’T EVEN NOTICE. I’m the type of person who would like to have it all together when it comes to my teaching. I just don’t though. None of us do. I am striving for it though. While I integrate new and rich practices into my teaching, I have to rely on some older (tried and true?) ones as well. Those old ones aren’t necessarily bad. Sometimes they are the well-worn foundations that we know fit and go hand-in-hand (foot-in-foot?) with the new ones.
This is a short one, but hopefully it resonates with you today!
Hi Eadaoin, this really resonated with me and motivated me as sometimes it can be uncomfortable to ‘break in’ those new shoes too so it’s nice to know it’s ok to slip into the old shoes too and wear both at the same time!
@eoboyle Sometimes even among all of the amazing teaching and learning tools we have available to us the whiteboard and dry erase marker is still the best one for the job. I think when we toss the term innovation around there is this invisible pressure to reject the old and only look for the newest solution. As @lmcbeth likes to say .. “Fall in love with the problem….. not the solution”. As we focus down into what we might spend our Action Plan time on let’s not envision the solution but spend this early time really trying hard to identify a problem we care enough about to want to solve.
As someone who was running to early morning bball practice in the rain and only later noticed that she had no dress-shirt to put on after a sweaty practice because it was languishing in the gravelly parking lot – I hear you! But do you know who didn’t notice that I was wearing the SAME outfit as the day before, which I had thankfully forgotten to take home yesterday? The students that I connected with all day long. You got this @eoboyle!
Thanks for sharing @eoboyle! I actually believe that being honest and openly acknowledging our challenges and missteps is one of the most important things we can do for our community – in better ensures a culture rooted in support and mentorship, as opposed to judgement. And really, what do having it “all together” even mean? Sometimes, for instance, our intricate planning can distance us from the moment… maybe if it was a different kind of day for you, you may not have been there in that same important way for that teary eyed student.
@lmustard @jgravel @swelbourne
How very true @jmedved! @lmcbeth‘s approach of falling in love with the problem, not the solution gives us time to ask the right questions about what we want to solve. It is only then that we can look for the truly innovative solution. Often, it’s the thinking itself that is the innovation, the mindset, not always the tech or new tools that were in need of the most. @eoboyle, I can’t wait to learn more about the Action Plan that you’re envisioning!
How very true @jmedved! @lmcbeth‘s approach of falling in love with the problem, not the solution gives us time to ask the “right” questions about what we want to solve. It is only then that we can look for a truly innovative solution. Often, it’s the thinking itself that is the innovation, the mindset, not always the tech or new tools that we’re in need of the most. @eoboyle, I can’t wait to learn more about the Action Plan that you’re envisioning!