Your Comfort Zone is Overrated

I think about this a lot. Your comfort zone as a teacher. It’s everything in the beginning. Finding what works. Finding what doesn’t. Knowing your kids.  Making sure your kids know you. You are not meant to be the sole expert in the room.  You are not there to outshine kids thinking. You are a supporter.  You can openly admit you aren’t sure, you don’t know, and that you learned something from a  kid.  Why? When we stop and celebrate the idea that we have learned from a student, something happens.  Kids know we value learning. Kids know they matter.  Kids know we ARE learners.   Releasing control of learning can be a scary feeling. It’s not how many of us were taught to teach, but that doesn’t mean it’s not important.  One day, maybe after a lot of days, you start to see that your kids are more engaged than ever before. You realize their growth is coming out of the idea that they are learning because it’s their learning.  That’s the day you realize that your comfort zone is overrated.