CHANGE in the air!

As teachers we love seeing those moments when the light bulb comes on among our students. Recently while reading a book to my kiddos, What Do You Do With A Problem, I was fortunate enough to experience the illumination of my own bulb. See, the narrator says that one day he has a problem that just appears and he doesn’t know what to do with it. He says that he was worried that this “problem” would consume him. So his solution is to shoo it away, and scowl at it. He even tried to ignore the problem, but it just didn’t go away. In fact, the problem became even more present. So what does this have to do with Learning Focused Lesson Plans? Many times we become rooted in what we do as professionals. However, as great educators we often struggle, especially with something new that may force a change in some of the ways we operate thus thinking of it as a problem. Why? Because it’s not what we are used to doing, it’s new and pushes us outside the boundaries of our comfort zone. My “aha” moment came to me as I continued reading, becoming lost in the words of the narrator, grasping how this book was so relevant to my own life. Imagine that, a child’s book teaching an adult…who would of thought? As the sparks to my connection became alive I realized that Learning Focused was not the problem. The problem was my hesitation or sense of caution to change. The problem was my fear of the unknown, not Learning Focused as it may have been branded. Much like the character in the story who finally embraced the problem, faced it head on and stated that it was “an opportunity.” What appeared to be ugly was actually beautiful. The narrator says, “It was an opportunity for me to learn and to grow. To be brave. To do something.”

As I embraced this “problem” (change) I have awakened in myself an improved and more confident educator. Lesson planning is easier now than before, which can be attributed to purposeful and strategic planning. Students must be more responsible for their own learning than ever before. This is exactly what the Learning Focused Framework does.