Change & Progress

Change is all around us.  It's what challenges us.  It's what makes us grow.  The changes facing education really smacked me in the face about a year or two ago when a previous colleague of mine connected with me about getting back into teaching.  Like several friends/previous colleagues of mine, she taught for several years, started a family and decided to stay home, and then planned to jump back into teaching when the youngest entered first grade.  By the time she decided to go back to work, she had been home for over a decade, which happened to be longer than the time she had been in the classroom pre-family.  In sitting down with her to discuss key initiatives in education, the buzz words to use in an interview, the technology that had become second nature to me, and local and state assessments, I realized just how much had happened in the last ten years.  Like many educators, I had been diligently working in order to learn and grow and do, so I didn't often pause to think about how far education had come and how far I had come as an educator.  Fortunately, this conversation with this colleague of mine gave me this opportunity. What dawned on me during the conversation that day is change can be difficult, and each of us takes a different approach to it.

This was an important reflection for me as I think about my role as a library information specialist.  As much as my job description states that it's about the research and the collection development, a great deal of my job has become the connections I make with my colleagues and coaching or supporting them in the classroom. Each one of them is so unique in regards to their skill sets, interests, and personalities.  So when the next big thing comes along--Breakout EDU, NoodleTools, PBL (project-based learning), 3D printing, etc.--I need to really think about the best way to support change.  I happen to be one of those bold people who is willing to "go big or go home" and dive in. But for others, it needs to be about taking those smaller steps and getting more support from the iCoaches and myself in the beginning.  It's vital that anyone in a more supportive role for educators carefully examine where an individual is in regards to their skills, knowledge, and comfort level, and provide the necessary scaffolding for success.  If we don't and the whole thing falls apart, an individual is much less likely to try that again--and can you blame them?

As Tony Robbins notes, "Change is inevitable.  Progress is optional."  Progress looks different for each of us--different starting points, comfort levels, targets.  But to move education forward, we have to be willing to embrace change and move outside of our comfort zone to ultimately benefit the most important part of the equation--our students.