The clouds of COVID-19 still hang over the world, and teachers and students who have experienced online teaching and returned to the classroom have obviously developed many new ideas about learning. In a recent online communication, A.J. Giuliani, the host of the GSE PLN program at the University of Pennsylvania, made a heartfelt speech, and today I will share with you how to view the pain of education reform in the era of change.
(The following content is deleted and revised according to the online meeting minutes, personal views are for reference only, please indicate when reprinting).
Imagine that you have been educated for 7, 11, 15, or even 25 years. Over the years, you have gradually grown into a professional, learned many new educational techniques, and accumulated a wealth of teaching experience. With the change of national curriculum standards, local teaching guidance suggestions, etc., when schools begin to implement new teaching plans, have new initiatives, and the way teachers are evaluated, how do you feel?
When the online teaching of the epidemic is over, you return to the classroom and get used to the learning method based on data observation in online teaching, how the offline classroom goes from observation to observation and data.
Moreover, with the upsurge of various educational reforms, new principals, new principals, new curriculum directors, and many special education leaders have emerged, but at the same time, many of your good friends and teachers have left the classroom.
Some have become school administrators.
Some have left school.
Some have left the profession altogether.
Your course has changed several times, you are starting another revision and moving on to a new practice.
Possibly, the curriculum has been changed three times. Now, you need to conduct teaching evaluations based on various assessment scales several times a year. Possibly, you join the school's digital education team, which focuses on all of this "content" (the visual representation of learning data for teaching effects) and tries to understand where you can make an impact.
In all these changes, you've had excitement too. See children learning and growing. Watch them get excited about the passion project. Tackle challenges together and get out of the other side. While many people worry because the shift from remote to blended learning isn't that easy.
Probably, you're exhausted
For students, though they have changed over the years.
For parents, they have really changed over the years.
But after believing in the struggle, you will still pick yourself up and believe that you are doing a good job, that everything you are doing is going in the right direction, and that there are legitimate reasons.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="13" > struggle is real....</h1>
A few months ago, I asked teachers and school leaders about how they felt after returning to school, and the two words they used most often when emailing me to answer my questions were "frustrated" and "desperate"...
After the new school year in the United States, I once wrote an article about how things never get back to normal, but there is a light at the end of the tunnel, and at that time I noticed the sighs of despair and frustration in many classrooms.
Most of us get an education because we want to change the lives of our students.
Education is a bridge to many opportunities for this country and the world. We know that as teachers and school leaders, it can open its channels to any student, and we also know how difficult it is for some students to overcome their personal circumstances without the help of a support system (family, teachers, friends, coaches) who care and want to make a difference.
It seems that the change (which has changed a lot over the past few years) has frustrated many of us and made us eager to maintain some sort of consistency in the teaching profession.
I'm not going to argue about that.
However, change (like everything else) is not all bad, nor is it all good, and this is true of everything.
The truth is that change is constant. This is not only in the field of education, but also in many areas of work. It's going to take a while for us to see it working in the classroom right now, and yes, it's slow, but it's always there.
So, as teachers and school leaders, how do we deal with this problem? How can we prevent frustration and despair from boiling over and hurting all potential progress? More importantly, how can we ensure that frustration and despair do not permeate our students and negatively affect their learning experience?
Well, we can start with these guiding beliefs:
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="24" >1. Change is constant, so let's focus on how we manage it</h1>
If you don't like something, change it. If you can't change it, change your attitude. --Maya Angelou
We may not be able to influence the changes that schools make. We need to love and support some people, even though there are some people we don't like and scorn for them. In any case, one thing we can control is how we manage change as an organization, as a team, and as individuals.
Start with yourself. How do you understand change? How do you manage the process? What can you do to help your colleagues get through this?
I especially remember when I was angry, angry or upset about certain changes, and I always thought of the surprises that the changes would bring. Both are feelings we must have, and it's exhausting to even think about how this affects our learners. But if we start from that place of empathy, we can have grace in those days that feel unruly.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="29" >2. Don't wait for training, let's be an active learner</h1>
If we accept that this change is constant, we must also recognize that learning is constant. Professional development and training are simply ways of reacting to challenges and change. If you want to succeed in change, get out there and seek new learning opportunities and training.
The internet has changed the way we learn forever. Anything you want to learn (or need to learn) is likely to be available online for free. This is not to say that organizations should not provide training. Of course they should! But in times of change, how can we find learning opportunities (and share them with colleagues) to help us all?
This is one of the conversations I keep bringing up when working with teachers: think about how much we've learned from each other. Teachers are best able to learn from other teachers, and peer sharing can give unexpected gains.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="33" >3</h1>
Is it safe for students? Do they have a sense of belonging? Are they empowered? Do we challenge students and support their learning through a variety of learning activities? Are classrooms designed and managed student-centered? Do we really pay attention to children?
Educational technology is changing rapidly, and new changes are always on the horizon. However, the Best Practices for How We Learn focuses on student-centered experiences, providing the right amount of challenge and support for all learners.
In all these changes, what should we focus on?
It's our students.
Pay attention and always focus on what is best for them.
If you're frustrated with your current situation, or are at a loss for words to deal with changes, take a step back.
Or maybe you're feeling frustrated precisely because you're changing. You may be innovating and doing creative work in your teaching, but you don't seem to be able to get others to identify with or participate.
In either case, take a moment to take a deep breath and look forward.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" Data-track="42" > a silver lining: great learning can come out of setbacks</h1>
A few years ago, when I thought about all my 11th graders, all I cared about was their grades, and as a teacher, I was frustrated. From this frustration, I thought of changing the way I teach and the way students learn.
I aspire to teach students to read effectively in a new way. Having them read articles and watch some videos doesn't improve students' reading skills, because students need to "do something" to "digest" their reading experience. So I helped students create a collaborative project: the Universal Good Book Recommendation Project.
A few years ago, a wonderful teacher I worked with knew very little about the "STEAM" curriculum and was bitter about the difficulty of running it in high school, and this pain inspired him to spend a lot of time and effort redesigning the curriculum, and yes this frustration triggered him to design a new 9th grade curriculum (Creative Design and Engineering) and revise the entire scope and sequence to create a real learning workshop that would provide students with opportunities for interdisciplinary learning.
A group of teachers in the community were frustrated that students did not have the same opportunities and experiences as students in other neighborhoods. Instead of backing down, they worked with businesses in the community to create the "Industrial Park Centennial" project learning: through summer internships and people-centered activity design programs, students worked with real companies to co-create products, market those products, and present their work at conferences across the country, such as MedX at Stanford University.
If our choices can make frustration and despair make us better, then we choose frustration and despair;
Innovative ideas come from frustration.
We tend to think of creativity and innovation as something that happens outside of a preset.
But I disagree.
The most creative and innovative work comes from new thinking and new environments that force solutions within presuppositions.
It reminds me of a scene on Apollo 13, when the oxygen tank exploded and the carbon dioxide rose sharply, and they had to use the interior materials of the lunar module to make filters. At this time, the astronauts are stressed and frustrated, but we can't deny that there is a group of desperate people here who are trying to create an innovative solution...
Put everything on the table. Embrace feelings of despair and frustration. Then create something in the preset (comfort zone) that is good for everyone.
Over the past two years, there have been moments when we need to grieve and reflect. But there are also times when we learn, grow and adapt. Think about what you've accomplished in such a short period of time.
Yes, it's hard. It's hard. It's so tiring! However, as teachers and school leaders, we have always been adaptable. Over the past few years, we've shown it again and again, and every day I've seen hard-working teachers make a difference.
You may never know how much your resilience to the pandemic and change will affect those around you, but it has already had a huge impact!
Thank you.