Guest blog contributed by Classcraft Ambassador Paul Cancellieri
Anyone who has ever watched kids at a swimming pool is familiar with the stages that a child moves through as they become more confident in the water. Younger children often stay in the shallow end, where they can reach the bottom, while more experienced kids venture out to the deeper parts of the pool to explore and learn to keep their heads above water. In a lot of ways, I see the teachers around me behave in the same way.
Novice educators frequently (and wisely) focus on learning the ropes of classroom management and lesson planning early on. During those first few years, every teacher needs the safety of the shallow end of the pool. We stick to what we know and what we are comfortable with, and that’s as it should be. Learning to do the hundreds of things that good teachers do — often without thinking about them — takes time and repetition. Teaching is never more stressful and exhausting than in those first few years.
But, for too many teachers, that is where the journey ends.
They spend the rest of their years in the profession with their feet touching the bottom of the pool. They recycle lesson plans over and over again, despite constant change in their students and their curriculum. They spent little time on “planning” because they use the same lesson plan book that they did last year. They assume that they have mastered the process of educating, and they just keep doing it the same way. They stand firmly behind the bobbing rope next to the sign that reads “two feet,” and they relish the comfort and safety of solid ground beneath them.
Learning how to swim in the ‘deep end’
Yet I regularly come across quite a few teachers who prefer the uncertainty and excitement of the deep end of the pool. These teachers — no matter how much experience they have — enjoy exploring new techniques and tools. They may not be the first to experiment with a new technology, but they seek ways to use it to make their instruction better. They see the need to constantly improve, and they push themselves to do more every day. I have a lot of respect for these teachers, and I count myself among them because I know that they are the only way that our education system will move forward to adapt to the changes in our students and our society.
I wasn’t always a deep-end teacher. When I first joined the profession, I thought I would eventually master the art of teaching and then I could relax and coast through my career. But, in my third year, I met another teacher who pushed my thinking about what is best for kids. He invited me to follow him and some other teachers on Twitter, and my personal learning network was born.
From the ranks of these educators — seasoned and novice teachers, professors, and researchers from all over the world — came some of the insights that made me realize that what I knew about teaching and learning was just the tip of the iceberg. For me, there was no going back to the shallow end of the pool.
Teaching outside your comfort zone
Being a deep-ender can be challenging. Sometimes new technology doesn’t work like it is supposed to. Sometimes exciting new lessons fail. And there are times when we all must return to the shallow end for a time. But pushing ourselves to constantly improve brings its own reward. Students recognize the effort and can learn as much from a failed lesson as you do. There is joy in working hard to do something new and then sharing that with your peers. You can bring others into the deep end with you, moving the entire profession forward one swimmer at a time. Best of all, we know from research and our own experiences that the “deep-end lessons” are the ones that students remember long after they leave our class.
So, how do you take those first steps? How do you learn to swim away from the safety of the shallow end of the pool? First, know that it’s okay to start small. Find a promising lesson, try it out, and blog about the results. Join the Facebook groups for the tools that you care about (like Classcraft!) and contribute to the conversation.
Safety in the deep end of the pool comes from the people you surround yourself with. Don’t go it alone, but don’t watch from the two-feet-deep zone. Don’t settle for the status quo or last year’s lessons. Push yourself to learn to swim. Trust me, you won’t look back.
Paul has taught middle school science in North Carolina for 12 years, after starting his professional life as a marine biologist. He earned National Board certification in 2006 and was selected as one of the Outstanding Science Educators in North Carolina in 2009. He writes about education reform and grading practices on his blog, ScriptedSpontaneity.com. Paul is a Classcraft ambassador.
Twitter: @mrscienceteach
Photo credit: Monkey Business Images / Shutterstock.com