How are the things you’ve done and are doing rippling out?
Even with a kind word or action? Have you thought about it? Are you taking action on your epiphanies in big or little ways? Any action counts and makes a ripple. Just take a minute to observe how you’re “rippling” out. Maybe tell your family and friends how they might have “rippled” out and touched your life in a positive way and thank them, and then ask them how they see you “rippling” out. We should think about how we can make our ripples as positive as possible.
In reading this article on the "Positively Positive" website (found via Twitter), I started thinking about the ripples that we have as educators.
I return to Regie Routman's thoughts in her book, CONVERSATIONS, regarding the different roles that teachers must assume in our lives. And I think about Steven L. Layne's questions about why we teach and how to build students' "literacy lives."
Like most educators, I think one of the ripples we need to make is to find a way to change the focus of a conversation from standardized testing to effective teaching practices for engaging learners. Politicians have tried to force us to value their very narrow view of education (testing) by hinging our careers, evaluations, income, and, yes, livelihoods on the outcomes of norm-referenced tests. Once illegal in some states, it is now part of the oxymoron called "reform" in education.
Thinking about Teddy Roosevelt's quote from 1910, I believe that we must stop expecting perfection and allowing for learning, creativity, and "daring greatly":
“It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better.
The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming,
but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself for a worthy cause;
who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat.”
Without daring greatly, we may stay "safe" and "under the radar." But for what?
As a coach, I think "daring greatly" among my colleagues has become an everyday occurrence. It has to be. They are comfortable with my vulnerability... my willingness to co-plan, do demonstration lessons, etc. Brene Brown describes this as "the crux of the struggle," resulting in thinking:
- I want to experience your vulnerability but I don't want to be vulnerable.
- Vulnerability is courage in you and inadequacy in me.
- I'm drawn to your vulnerability but repelled by mine.
It takes a lot of time for to feel the ripple of my own risk-taking. Risks that I must be willing to take in order to help others observe their students in way that they cannot when they are doing all of the teaching. The ripples begin with reflecting on their students and what they see anew as an observer. The ripples continue when teachers are willing to let me observe them as they demonstrate their work with students. Even better is when they trust that I will respect and HONOR their willingness to dare greatly. That is the only place where learning and growth, professionally and in life, can occur.
Brene Brown, in DARING GREATLY: HOW THE COURAGE TO BE VULNERABLE TRANSFORMS THE WAY WE LIVE, LOVE, PARENT, AND LEAD describes circumstances that prevent us from being wholeheartedly present in our work or lives. So many factors work against our willingness to dare greatly and work wholeheartedly, fearlessly. How would you respond to this excerpt of Brene's questions from p. 28 (below), especially as they pertain to your teaching work? What is it that makes us feel like we are "never enough" (the idea that perfection is scarce yet must exist--and that we must possess it in order to "be enough" or to engage with the world from a place of worthiness).
1. Shame: Is fear of ridicule and belittling used to manage people and/or to keep people in line? Is self-worth tied to achievement, productivity, or compliance? Are blaming and finger-pointing norms?... What about favoritism? Is perfectionism an issue?
2. Comparison: Healthy competition can be beneficial, but is there constant overt or covert comparing and ranking? Has creativity been suffocated? Are people held to one narrow standard rather than acknowledged for their unique gifts and contributions? Is there an ideal way of being or one... measurement of everyone else's worth?
3. Disengagement: Are people afraid to take risks or try new things? Is it easier to stay quiet than to share stories, experiences, and ideas? Does it feel as if no one is really paying attention or listening? Is everyone struggling to be seen or heard?
I know that as a teacher and coach, I have to consider ways that we overcome feeling like we are not "enough" or "worthy" from living through political moves that have caused us to feel shamed and compared, which have resulted disengagement from "daring greatly."
According to Brene Brown, (p. 29), we have to work in a way that is fundamentally opposite to these three "cultural norms" that have become part of our society. It takes awareness, commitment, and work--EVERY SINGLE DAY. She says that the opposite of scarcity (feeling like you are never "enough") is Wholeheartedness.
At the core of Wholeheartedness is vulnerability and worthiness in facing uncertainty, being seen, taking risks, and knowing that I am enough. We need to cultivate conditions that are conducive to helping our teachers realize that they ARE worthy, just as they are. There is no shame in your honorable work. There should not be comparisons between schools, teachers, or students. We have to rehumanize our work. Teachers should feel that they can safely explore their teaching gifts, trust that they will be deeply listened to, and know that their willingness to learn and grow is respected--for "when failure is not an option, we can forget about learning, creativity, and innovation" (Brown, p. 15).
As a coach, it is my job to figure out how to make this happen. It's all about relationships.
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