I’ve had my fair share of rants… about Common Core. Textbooks. Testing. Too much testing. I’ve spent hours complaining about what No Child Left Behind has done to, um… leave a bunch of kids behind. I’ve ranted, raved, and reflected about all of the wrongs of the American Education System. About how the media portrays educators. About all of it. But that is not my story. It’s not what I should be sharing.
So I stopped. I realized that what I needed to share wasn’t that “stuff” that I can’t do anything about. We all *KNOW* that stuff.
I stepped back… and listened to myself. That voice in my head. The one that guides me in my teaching. The one that makes me shut the world out when I get frustrated. The one that thinks I can only share when it’s “perfect.” The one that is thinking, years ahead, about changing the big picture. A point B without a point A.
It was shouting… “What can I change, right here, right now, that will improve their learning experience? What can I do to make today great?”
Today.
It turns out, a lot.
I listen more.
I take cues from their thinking to shape what I do.
I know perfect doesn’t exist.
I know that accepting help from others is not a sign of weakness, but a sign of strength.
I constantly think about how I can open the door wider, for their thinking and their input in our learning.
I take risks.
I make mistakes.
Mistakes that bring laughter. Tears. And material for funny stories at my retirement party.
I share it all.
I share it with the teacher next door. The teacher on the other side of the world.
And I share it with students.
Not because I think everyone cares or everyone should care, but because I care.
When I want to share, and when I don’t. I know that if it impacts someone, somewhere.. in my classroom, in my school, or on the other side of the world… it was worth it.
This moment.
Because we’re born to connect and learn. It’s what makes us human. It’s what makes us good educators.
I use to think every single day about what I could do to change the world. What I could do to make situations better. I’d fall asleep at night wishing I could fix things that I couldn’t. Things that just aren’t my place to fix.
Then I realized, sometimes, it’s not about fixing at all.
It’s about change. Reflection. And most of all? Learning.
And sometimes, or most times, the very first place to start, is to change ourselves.
One tiny moment at a time…and it starts today.