Holding on to myths

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(or, “we’ve always done it that way”)

One of the trickiest aspects of education is hard it is to measure performance. Gut feelings and anecdotes may “feel” correct, but can also be wildly inaccurate. I’ve seen a lot of teachers and administrators who, when faced with a new situation, fall back on to how school was ran when they were students. I call this phenomenon playing school.

It seems we are always striving for the holy grail of teaching. That one lesson plan format, discipline plan, and classroom where learning can happen at an accelerated pace. Unfortunately, I’m here to tell you, this teaching utopia doesn’t exist.

We like to hold on to past myths, that things were better/easier/faster when we were students. But, people are people, and no two are the same. What worked last week may not work this week, let alone what worked last year.

Let go of the myths, the truth is that the world changes, sometimes hourly. If we can’t be flexible and learn from these changes, our chances of being successful are slim.