Two Things Different

Since January, my life has totally been different – I left the comfy confines of Edmond Memorial High School to take on the completely unknown world of Oklahoma State University.  My role changed from primarily teaching to primarily learning.  As a result – this school semester/year – my two things that will be different will be, well, different.

Number 1

I want to intentionally expand the amount of time that I spend in my uncomfortable zone.  As a teacher, I can get so comfortable that I forget that there are risks that need to be taken.  I’m not talking about crazy, way out from left field risk.  This can sometimes be good…But I want to take steps that pull me from my comfort zone and help me to change my teaching practice.  I have been know to occasionally dip my pinky toe into the world of different and uncomfortable.  I tried flipcass and gamification in my high school math class.  These were mostly well thought out and intentional steps to get out of the way, so that the student learning in my classroom was driven by the students.  It took me way too long as a teacher to get there, over a decade.

Easier said than done.  Being intentional is key here.

Number 2

Quit thinking in terms of the far future – think what can I do now.  Today.  This second.  I have always had an eye on what could take place in my future.  Always.  I do not spend very much time really looking at today and why today is important.  What will I miss out on if I don’t take action today.  What opportunity can I capitalize on today?  What can I do today that will make the biggest difference.

This is hard for me.  I want to help teachers in the future, when I am done with graduate school (and you can call me The Doctor), but what am I doing about this today?  I need to take a page from the “do what you can, with what you have, where you are” playbook.

As with Number 1 – this will be easier said than done.

What two things can you do different?