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During one of our fist staff PD sessions this year, our Director of Teaching and Learning at Trinity College School, Myke Healy, shared a TED Talk by Brene Brown. [youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iCvmsMzlF7o&ab_channel=TED[/youtube] In her talk, Brown describes how vulnerability is a zone of utter discomfort out of which all growth, all learning, all progress is made. I am reminded of this talk during our first Cohort21 session because innovating in our classrooms makes us so completely vulnerable. As a technology integrator I hear teachers describe themselves as insecure technology users. They apologize before asking questions, and preface our conversations with, “I’m really ba
d at this but…”. People rarely see how incredible it is that they are asking for help in the first place. They don’t tend to acknowledge the value of their vulnerability. During our first Cohort21 session, teachers were all kinds of vulnerable, including the Cohort21 leaders. I found it especially valuable to see how coaches and organizers handled discomfort. Our first Cohort21 Face2Face felt like a well-oiled machine, with coaches at hand to answer questions and clarify directions. Of course this was totally great, but what I enjoyed almost as much was technology not working as planned. Firewalls that thought we were all hackers and shut down our sites. WordPress refusing to publish blog posts. When sessions were delayed, Garth led us on a fantastic tour of Bayview Glen, which got me thinking about how my own classroom and space is designed. It was a whole new kind of learning that stemmed from technology not running perfectly as planned. When we innovate in our classrooms, there is always imperfection. Sometimes it’s an outright disaster. But we push forward knowing that we will be vulnerable, and that growth and learning takes hold in the cracks and crevices of vulnerability. Blogging is vulnerable for me, but I look forward to clearing space for that discomfort and seeing what grows.
Great post, Heather! I couldn’t agree more about the strength and courage that is shown by teachers who ask questions. We see it all the time! It was great meeting you today; I’m glad you felt like you got a lot of out of it. I know I did, too!
Heather,
This is such a fantastic observation about our need to be uncomfortable in order to learn. Your post reminds me that often times I am asking my students to push beyond their comfort zone and that because I am so familiar with the content, assignments, plans, I can forget that they don’t always see where we are on the roadmap to their learning. Thanks for helping me to think about their perspective a little more.
If you haven’t already, you should check out posts by both @brenthurley and @tantoniades. They both speak to similar themes of discomfort and growth.
http://cohort21.com/brenthurley/2015/10/17/what-happens-when-you-change-schools-after-13-years/
and
http://cohort21.com/tonyantoniades/2015/10/18/ex-caverna/
It was great to meet you today and I look forward to learning with you this year!
Les
Great post, Heather. One of the reasons I am grateful for Cohort21 is that it has made me so comfortable getting out of my comfort zone in the classroom. It becomes habit (and addicting!) – and the effects last much longer than the year-long PD. Welcome!
Check out @viviennekraus post as well. She has a great message, “I’d rather be overwhelmed, than underwhelmed.” I’ll check out this TED talk too.
Thanks for your thoughts,
garth.
I meant @vkraus 🙂
Great post! Vulnerability is a hard zone to be in especially if you’re spending a great deal of time in it. As a tech integrator I see a lot of what you’re seeing as well but the look on the face of staff who’ve wrestled with an idea and finally get it is well worth the time spent helping people grow.
Obviously we’re all learners and are all capable of learning – it’s about empowerment and meeting the needs of the learners.
To Les’ comment – I often push my students outside of their comfort zones but giving them time to chew and process the concepts, is really what helps to unlock their understanding and move forward.
I’d love to set up a Google Hangout and hear about how you’re getting at Tech Integration at TCS!
I reread your post today after the Integrator’s Meeting. Thinking about vulnerability, I was struck by the variety of approaches in styles by different integrators. There’s a lot of psychology wrapped in coaching, and tapping into motivations or creating the conditions that allow teachers to feel like they have spaces in which to become vulnerable is no easy task!
I enjoyed our conversations today about looking at Edsby and Google Classroom, and asking questions about how they impact workflows but more importantly impact people and human-centred objectives. See you at F2F2 “2”morrow.
Thanks Adam. Great chatting at the Integrator’s meeting, and I’d definitely like to have more conversations about how you are using doctopus to organize materials. We will also be asking you about report cards using Edsby in the near future…