To Truly Educate and Lead Well Takes Time...

Collaboration, Purposeful Reflection, Transferable Skills, and our Students, It's About Time…

Go, Go, Go…. Access to new and expanded information continues to expand at rates that can be difficult to comprehend. According to the “Knowledge Doubling Curve” Buckminster Fuller; 1982, prior to 1900, human knowledge doubled at a rate of approximately every century. By the end of World War II (1945) it had decreased to every twenty five years. Analytical estimates today have it doubling every thirteen months, and by 2020, less than two years from now, doubling every 11-12 hours!

As educators, what does this mean for how we instruct? How do we manage all of new information and access to it? How do we make sense of it all? Can we make sense of it of it all?

We can, if we take time to reflect on the needs of our students today, and the ever changing world that they are part of. 

Never more has the need to take time to pause for purposeful reflection been more important. While the notion of slowing down to take time to reflect on the impact our instruction is having daily may seem to present a logistical struggle, it is increasingly vital as the rate of access to new information and knowledge continues increase at exponential rates. The need to reflect in a purposeful manner as an individual, and with colleagues is essential…. The question is how?

As Collaborative Content Area Teams

• Prioritizing time to have conversations and reflect around student learning with colleagues who teach the similar content is a great way to foster shared understandings around not only how students are performing academically, but to identify areas for focused growth, instructional modifications, and next steps in curricular updates.

As Collaborative Grade Level Teams

• Time to meet and reflect with colleagues who teach the same grade level, but not necessarily the similar content. This time allows for staff who may not routinely connect related to their content, to collaborate on items and areas of need that are common across all disciplines, i.e. common challenges and opportunities, as well as spurring opportunities for interdisciplinary ideas. 

As an Individual

• Ensuring that as an educator, we take time to not only look back at the learning that has occurred within our classrooms, and schools, but to look ahead to how me may need to adjust course for the future is key.  Knowing that not only are no two students needs the same, but the needs present from year-to-year will also never be the same, makes this vital.  

The world and the skills students need to develop to be successful in it will continue to change and evolve. Their reality is, and will continue to be one of change. The tools we are using in our schools today, will not be the same ones they will be using in their chosen professions tomorrow. Our focus needs to be on the development and application of transferable skills that they can use as they learn to perform in careers not yet imagined. When we look at technology tools, operating platforms, software, as well as other classroom resources, we need to be building a knowledge base that is device, and platform agnostic. One that we model to students that ensures a commitment and pursuit of lifelong learning. This exciting, and at times daunting task, can only be accomplished by prioritizing time to collaborate and reflect in purposeful ways around the impact the experiences students are having in our classrooms is helping to develop the transferable skills they will need to be solvers of problems not yet thought of with tools, and in ways we cannot even imagine.

Never have I been more excited to be an educator, however to educate and lead well, we need to take time to reflect and adjust course as needed. Our students, our educators, and our future both deserve, and demand it.

It’s about Time….