Please read and respond to the following....
"In reality 'learning' and 'change' are synonymous. Change is not an issue if it makes sense to and is 'owned' by those involved. An appreciation that change is a continual process, involving confusion and difficulty, is vital for future learners. 'It is not change that kills it is the transitions'."
16 comments:
Well, this quote made me think of two things, our students' learning process and our own learning process as teachers. Piaget's theory of assimilation and accommodation describes a sometimes difficult process whereby learners try to make sense of new information and construct new meaning from it. The more open we (children and adults) are to receiving new information and the more we feel in control of the process, the easier it is to incorporate it into our own schema. Just as children experience physical growing pains as their bodies change, the confusion and difficulty all humans experience as they learn is a natural and beneficial process.
Read this once, twice and more before I could make sense of it. Never really made the immediate connection of learning and change as being synonymous. What hit home was the phrase..."It is not change that kills it is the transitions." I consider this our transitional year. Yes, at times, it did feel like it was crimping our teaching style, putting us out of our comfort zone, and making us question if what we've been doing all along is the correct thing for our children. Being unsure can make us better thinkers...oh, that metacognitive process is flowing...and engaging our minds to assess what the children need, what works and what doesn't, what their strengths are, engaging them so we can be privy to their deeper thinking. I seem to be rambling but I understand how the transitional time, because of its' uncertainty, puts me in a place that makes me question again and again if what I am doing is the best for the kids. The children do so much better with these transitions, or maybe it is because it's appropriate and what works. More ponderings....more growth.
How sweet it is to hear a quote that says confusion and difficulty are OK......don't we tell our students all the time this in many ways...."it's OK if this is a little difficult...we'll keep working on it"...."Everyone makes mistakes, that's how we learn"..."Practice makes perfect"..."slow and steady wins the race"..."try, try again"...Oh yes, it's so easy for us to say all these things, but as adults we aren't as patient! Let's not forget the words from High School Musical (I know I am very deep)---"We're All In This Together!"
As far as the ownership piece, I think that is very important....and why I do hope that with all that we are working on, we will continue to be "allowed" to continue to use some of the teaching strategies that are unique to ourselves as teachers and individuals.
The quote made me think about all of the changes I have seen in my many years of teaching. Change has never been easy but complacency would be worse. We as teachers like to have an instructional climate that incorporates clarity of vision; efficiency of instruction; and student understanding within the parameters of our self-created comfort zone. When change is evident and we are thrust into the role of change agent, we feel the sting of discomfort. Our clarity of vision is cloudy and stormy. We want the expected change to settle into our instructional comfort zone easily and immediately. It's hard to experience the uncomfortable twinges that the uncertainity of change ultimately brings. We wonder how it will affect our students? We need to teach with the end in sight. Clarity of vision is important and we want it immedieately. We are often struggling to have the murky end change brings to become clear and we want to "cut to the chase." But life is a series of changes and transitions. It is a chance to find out what works and how it fits into our daily instructional climate. Uncomfortable? Certainly, but well worth it. Change and transition keeps our teaching both fresh and new.
The ebb and flow of both our personal and academic lives are certainly a continuous process of "change". The process of going from non-reader to reader is full of bumps and frustrations, the accomplishment that goal results in is a comfortable feeling of success. In our personal lives we experience the painful pulling away of children growing up-watching them leave the nest- that transition is indeed painful for most parents. When we acclimate to the change, and realize there is life after kids( cruises, get aways, dinners out, etc) the "change becomes something we can deal with, and move on to something new. Children experience many troubled transitions as they move from novice to mastery- it is our job to get them through the rough spots and celebrate with them when they accomplish their goal. An example for fourth graders would be watching the kids the first few lessons dealing with long division. A kind of panic sets in for most of the kids, they need a lot of reassurance during that "transition"time.It is alsmost a thing of joy to see those same kids a few lessons later, as the light bulbs start to truly light up their faces, as they "get it".ok, enough said!
Our former superintendent always said that change is difficult. - learning something new is also difficult. So I can see how learning and change are very similar. As a learner to the new process of Reader's workshop I can see how the working through all of the trials and errors can make you want to give up. I have felt this way at times. Doing things that I am comfortable doing is so much easier. Ha -- Change can be difficult.
I have always believed that to teach anything the students need to own it. This goes for me as a teacher as well. I wasn't all that sure that I bought into this workshop model. But I am trying to see how it fits and I can see many pieces of it going along with my ideas. So I am now starting to buy into it. I can see the kids enjoy picking out their own books. Talking about books more than ever before and actually using the terminology that is being presented. So I am in transition but heading towards change.
Change? I have seen so much change in my students this year that it makes all of the tears worth it. Yes, tears. Behind closed doors I have had many of them because change is hard. Not because I don't want to change for the better, but because I question if I am going about all this change the right way. I loved all of Faith's quotes because they are so true. We say them to our students all of the time and encourage them to embrace the challenge of the change. I am too embracing the change! And every day when a student asks when we are doing Readers Workshop, tells me about a connection they made in a book, shows me a new genre they are trying, recommends a book to another, claps when I pull out "Charlotte Doyle" to read... I know all of this change is good.
Change is always a part of our lives whether we like it or not. It is our choice to accept change. Changes take time to sink in. Allowing ourselves to feel the bumps but not allowing ourselves to get derailed is challenging. Yes,tears for sure. I believe everything in life happens to teach us something about ourselves. I ask myself, what kind of teacher do I want to be? How can I make the changes I want to see in myself? Part of this change for me is learning to listen to my heart and learning listen, really listen to all of you have supported me. No one can do it alone. That's why our conversations with each are so important. Teachers are such a wealth of untapped knowledge. Let's keep talking, keep challenging each other and keep supporting each other with this change. Change shows us who we truly are.
Wow! Everyone is sooo deep.
I am warmed by all your thoughts, comments, and pouring of support.
When I fist read this quote the same line that Jackie read got to me too. ..."It is not change that kills it is the transitions." The kills part it the word that strikes me as too harsh in this sentence. It also makes me think of when Colleen McBride left Soule School. It was a HUGE change for Soule. Was it the transition that killed? We were devastated. Our circle in the library full of tears, and consoling words. As if someone did die. Nancy had to wear sun glasses for weeks. Good thing it was summer! I remember bringing this news home to John. His response to me was, "Change is good!" At that moment, I thought he was heartless, but knowing better now, I realize he was right. I think of John's words when I'm faced with change and try to accept it more easily. We hated for Colleen to leave us, but we survived. We got Maura. Colleen went off and made change work for her. It was hard for all of us. We had each other, and we got through it, like every change we face,..... even our reading instruction. I am happy to face this change with all of you! Thanks
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At first I wasn't sure I agreed with these words being linked together. After mulling it over, I realized that "change" often has a negative feel because it usually puts us in a new or uncomfortable position, but when new learning occurs, some kind of change is always required. As teachers we probably experience change more often than other occupations - new students, new programs, new colleagues, new teaching assignments, on and on... Knowing how it effects us ("is it change for the better, or change for change's sake?" is often heard)should make us highly aware of the amount of change kids go through as we continually feed them new learning. If we are uncomfortable with the "transitions", -as we often are - just think about how the kids must feel! We and they need to know and expect that it may be a bumpy ride for a while, and that's OK!(Would someone please remind me for my own sanity that I said that?!!!) The guidance and support we provide for each other and our students makes all the difference in how we accept and own change.Thanks for being there for me! Tomasen, I think you summed this up several weeks ago when we were discussing our frustrations, trials and errors through this process. I believe you said - if you get TOO comfortable with your teaching, it's time to leave teaching. Did I get that right or did I imagine it?
Ahhh change…I actually had to take a college course about being an active agent of change. I think the title was Educational Structure and Change. I truly learned a lot about myself and the importance of change during this course. Of course, when I was taking the course, I was an undergrad student and my thoughts were at a different point than I am now. However, I noticed many of the key elements I got from that course reflect the things I am seeing first hand with colleagues and myself. I truly believe that change doesn’t not have to be negative in nature but change is an indication of reflection and growth.
Although this is only my second year teaching, I have noticed a change in myself as an educator and learner, as well as, changes in my students. I have created a different culture in my classroom by using Reader’s Workshop. Students feel ownership and value of their learning which stretches beyond workshop time. I attribute some my success with this to the amount of support and allowance of ease from administrators and other leaders in our school. Additionally, we have offered support for each other through study groups, this class, and as friends…an important ingredient in feeling successful with change.
I have to say I agree with a lot of everyones thoughts. Change has always been a challenge in the world of teaching. After teaching for a couple of years and you get comfortable with the curriculum and your class is running smoothly you feel good. BUT all of a sudden a new thought or idea has been discovered and the district goes with it. Now as a teacher you can either accept it and learn it or you can try and avoid it and make it difficult. Most of us seem to go with it and figure out how it best works for us. Like this reading workshop idea most of us have been taking baby steps and figuring out how to do it BEST and what is BEST for our students. We as educators seem to put a lot of stress on ourselves to do the BEST and if we don't feel like it is right away we STRESS. We give the students a hard time when they give up right away and we tend to do it ourselves without even knowing it. I hope this all makes sense because it makes sense to me as I am writing it.
All of us I feel are doing a great job and trying our best. When I hear all the things everyone is doing in their class I am impressed by how much we have changed and are willing to try new things.
Way to go girls.
I've been working in education for about 20 years. Having worked with so many teachers in six different schools I've formed a definite opinion about who the best teachers are. It's simple. They're the ones who change. The teachers who create, invent, re-invent, innovate and enhance their teaching are the ones I've always admired. One of my favorite teachers in the Salem School District was Anne Bergstresser, a long ago retired Fisk 4th grade teacher. In her last year of teaching, a time when many would be thinking about vacations, Anne was trying new ways to best educate her students. I see so much of Anne in so many of you. Being nervous about trying new things isn't a problem unless you let it stop you from trying. Certainly not the case with this group.
Maybe the idea that the transitions kill only means what doesn't kill us makes us stronger. I hope so. I'm counting on it. I've made so many changes this year, both in my teaching and my thinking. It's been hard, but I'm changing and learning.
When thinking about this quote I have to agree with Karen when she says that "when new learning occurs, some kind of change is always required". That is what learning is...learning is changing the way you originally viewed or thought of something. When you change your schema or ideas regarding a certain topic then this leads to an expansion of your prior knowledge…new learning is taking place.
The idea that “change is a continual process, involving confusion and difficulty” really hits home, particularly as we work through and learn about how to effectively utilize the reader’s workshop model in our classrooms. As we work through this change together…there has been confusion and difficulty, but at the same time there is equal success and rejoice as the effects of the process become evident in the classroom…as we begin to “own” the process in our own classrooms.
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