Good Intentions, Rising Altitude
Educators are consistently being
bombarded with the next great strategy. About technology, behavior management,
student-centered classrooms, just to name a few. Then just when they feel like
they are well-read and up-to-date with the latest planning, procedures and
policies, these implementations change. It is exhausting keeping up. They
literally can overdose on good ideas. They are surrounded by 400 ways to
improve education, long lists of tactics and approaches. They are given double
the volume of content to teach, in the same amount of time. They are
overwhelmed, out of balance and often frustrated and discouraged. Yet, they
have very few options, in which to yell from the mountain top their
disappointment.
If the powers that be, continue to
raise the ceiling and the floor, all educators will have left is a diminished
tolerance for error. No room for maneuvering to insure best practice for our
students. Educators are devoted practitioners, dedicated mentors, whom every
day, do not just reach the mountain top, to say they did, they arrive at its
precipice, because they fought a storm of criticism and an avalanche of
judgment. They enter the summit every morning: snow shoes buckled and nap sacks
full of emergency rations. They never look down the slope in doubt, they hear
the voices of their students and they step by step, climb against the gust. All
the while keeping an eye on the peak, knowing unequivocally, that they reach
it.
Suiting Up for the Climb
As adults, most of us try to avoid
personal conflict with other adults. This doesn't ring more true than in the
field of education. In our buildings the majority of us try to calm the waters,
rather than raise sea level. We mingle out and talk to a few teachers, but for
the most part our classroom is our Shangri-La and
we like to immerse ourselves in its comfortable surroundings.
Shangri-La
has become synonymous with any earthly paradise, particularly a mythical
Himalayan utopia –
a permanently happy land, isolated from the world. This encapsulates our
interpretation of our classrooms, we suit up every morning for the climb and
when we reach our rooms, we pinch a tent and wait for the other climbers to
make their way to camp. Our gear, we
accumulate, through experience and a growth mindset. We listen and observe,
learn from our mistakes and seek expansion and cultivation. But, we retreat
from conflict, because this wreaks havoc on our Zen, our contentment.
What we need to do
as educators is to see past the personal aspect of teaching and welcome a bit
of the business aspect. We need to be more tolerant of constructive criticism,
be more candid with ours, and above all look for ways to better communicate,
with those around us. The infamous saying “It’s not personal, its business,”
may not be possible entirely, but if we recognize and accept the permanent vocational
aspect of education, we will be able to find more of a balance. Prevent the
avalanche.
Non-Discussable Issues
A strength of most educators is our
capacity to disagree respectfully and professionally. Now, this is not to say
every educator does this. But I feel the majority of us do. Even when we get
really frustrated, we use restraint. However, this restraint in many cases, becomes
talking about someone, rather than to someone, regarding a disagreement or
conflict. This leads to naysaying and a vibe of gossip, rather than respect. This
unfortunate toxic environment is like a million thought bubbles bursting to
life, the pop, pop, pop, coating the conversations with dubiousness and
suspicion.
Faculty and student relationships are structured around nurture,
structure, foster and outreach. This facet is evident and plentiful in a
positive and mindful school. These relationships parallel faculty to faculty
interactions. When one is negative it definitely affects the other. But, we as
educators, often treat our students with more respect than we do one another.
Why do we forget to extend the same kindness and understanding to each other
every day, as we do with our students? Do we feel like we are a cog at an
institution, rather than a villager amongst the homestead? Every school is part
industrial revolution and part agrarian, nomadic township. Each member specialized
and contributing to the community.
We like to be our Own Author
“Watch your air time.” Is a phrase I repeat to
myself often, when I attend team and grade level meetings? I tend to not say
anything at all, but when I do, I like to keep my ideas to nice crisp pocket
sentences. Everyone wants to be the author of their personal narratives. So
when you put a group of highly passionate, highly intelligent people together
in a room, it is like an avalanche is rumbling. The conversation vibrates and
before you know it, you are stuck under a pile of freshly, tumbled snow. The
weight of it feels like a crushing force. So we often just start digging,
oblivious to those around us that seem to be piling the snow back up on top of
us. We simply shut down, out of exhaustion. So we sit, idle, distracted,
waiting for our personal St. Bernard, to exhume us from our crevasse.
As authors, we need to experience, interact and
at times lure in action that spawns creativity. If we assume good intentions
are coming, ask questions if we disagree and be specific and direct, we may
just be able to have open, meaningful discourse, even if the result is
discordance. If we stay positive, not fudge what we want to say in response,
but frame it in mindfulness and purpose, maybe we can lull any disunity or
friction. There is a candor we are lacking as educators. We often stay positive
without constructive change or we talk about one another, rather than to one
another leading to rifts and rumbles and eventually avalanches.
A collaborative challenge, such as
communication, makes us see our flaws, face our fears and it leads us past
complacency. We are educators and we have a shared commitment, to better the
lives of our students, we have a professional persona that keeps us on the path
of service and growth. But what we need to improve upon is our candor, our
honesty, our forgiveness and trust. If we as educators, professionals and human
beings, understand that progress comes from collaboration, conversation and
choice- we can choose to collaborate and converse more meaningfully. This
in turn, will lower anxiety levels, make schools a more positive setting, and above
all- it will allow educators to do their jobs without the weight of an
avalanche upon their shoulders.
