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Growth is good for us. We need to grow. Teachers want to grow. I want to grow. Students (sometimes reluctantly) want to grow.
BUT
WHAT DOES GROWTH LOOK LIKE? HOW DO WE MEASURE IT?
Which then leads me to think what impact will my growth as a person have on me as a teacher? What will this impact of me changing my teaching based on my own personal growth have on my students? How will it help them grow?
In my world, I measure growth at the end of the school year with a number. It is one of MANY things teachers do in a school year and it is not my favourite. One number does not encompass the challenge, the struggles, the victories and the new found talents of the students. One number does not show growth in academics, AND social skills AND confidence, AND resiliency. One number does not truly measure student growth.
This Saturday, I was pushed to grow more. No number associated with it, but I know I grew. I know I’ve grown as I was challenged to think more deeply about issues I have been wanting to explore in my own teaching. This growth is going to lead to a change in practice. It might be awesome. It might not be. Most likely it will be somewhere in between and require many iterations. Possibly more than the action plan had us complete.
This coming week, thanks to #cohort21, I was able to take my idea that was creativity (see September version), to resilience (see October version) to now looking at using students the confidence to give and accept feedback as one aspect of increasing resilience within my middle school students (current November version).
I look forward to seeing where my idea grows. It’s a small seedling at the moment, but it too will grow.
@mneale @apetrolito – thanks again for helping move this idea forward today
What a great post! I love the sentiments behind ‘growth’ and what it might be to many of us. Thanks for this. I think that measuring growth goes beyond a number – as most of us do – and that educators can leverage the learning skills to support growth. I’ve seen educators intentionally call out the learning skill that the class is working on in that class. I found it very powerful to name and explain and then give feedback on it during that class.
You should know that the upcoming CIS Ontario Connects Unconference has a whole stream dedicated to this discussion – consider sending a team along with you!