Obstacles and Opportunities

Obstacles and opportunities...they face each and every one of us every day, in every area of our lives. They are the good, the bad and the beautiful. They are the risks, the rewards, the fear, the pain, the hope...I could go on and on. Obstsacles and opportunties are faced from two different perspectives. A person with a fixed mindset says, "I see an opportunity...to take a risk with the potential for great reward, to try something new, to invest in something that seems worth it, BUT....the obstacles are big...too big, too risky, too painful, and so it's not worth it. I will stay in status quo, where it is safe and sound, and predictable, and where there are no waves,and no rocking boats. Everyone is happy with me here...safe and sound, am I happy here? Maybe, maybe not, but it's not worth the risk."  A growth mindset says, "I see an opportunity...to take a risk with the potential for great reward, to try something new, to invest in something that seems worth it, AND I know there are obstacles that I will face, and will have to overcome. It may be risky, it may be painful in the process, BUT IT'S WORTH IT! If I don't try, I will never know.  I don't want to stay in the status quo.  It's safe and sound here, but is it where I will reach my greatest potential in this life? Everyone else may be happy with me here, but am I happy here? I see an opportunity, I know the risks, but the vision of the potential reward ahead is worth it...let's do it!

Obstacles and opportunities face us each and every day. They are the variables that swirl around us, that almost taunt us at times. The question becomes, "Will I fear the obstacles so much that I miss the opportunity, or will I see the obstacles as a way to grow, to become stronger, to try and fail knowing that the opportunity may propel my life in such a way that ultimately will lead me to be at my best in this life."

So when facing obstacles and opportunties in life, in the work place, in the situation that we are in outside of work,  we have to take a moment to reflect, "What is my mindset around this decision...am I approaching it with a growth minset, or a fixed? What impact will this mindset have on my life, and is my current mindset around this going to lead me to my best, and happiest, and most fulfilled place in my life?"

Now at this point you are saying, "Kristin, what in the world does this have to do with awakening impact in students?" That my friend is what I leave you to think about...;)

I will say however, that our mindset doesn't change from work to outside of work. Typically we are either of a growth or fixed in both areas. When we consider the impact that mindset has on potential for innovation, for creativity, for taking risks and trying trying new things in life, then it opens up the door for couragious conversations to be had, for seed ideas to be planted, and for change to take root...

How do we Critique and Challenge Inequity

Dimensions of Equity

• Removing the predictability of academic success or failure based on social, economic, or cultural factors.
• Interrupting inequitable practices, eliminating biases and oppression and creating inclusive school environments for adults and children
• Discovering and cultivating the unique gifts, talents, and interests that each human being possesses within and across schools, districts and communities in partnership with one another (Osta and Perrow 2008 p 3-4)
• Resource---Every Day Anti Racism: does this practice lead to more educational opportunity or less educational opportunity? Why? What is our EVIDENCE?

Limits:

Whose voice is heard

Whose is silenced?

Whos is represented?

Who is missing?

Who stands to benefit?

Who stands to lose?

What assumptions fuel this

How does this inform our decisions and drive our work?

So now...

I posted yesterday in regards to the positive impact of a growth mindset within education. I would like to come back to that for a moment, and consider this. We each bring to our environments our individual background and experiences...our schema. Everything we have learned through exposure and experience since the day we were born. Every time we enter a situation we bring that schema with us, and therefore despite the best intentions and plans, situations will tend to take on a life of their own based on the schema of the people present at the time. With that being said, it is quite amazing that we have everything from large corporations, to small businesses, to educational and governmental systems and structures that run well at all.  We know the role history has played in much of that, and of course through experiences we have learned to create successful, global systems and structures that continue to grow and experience success. However, we can acknowledge that it takes strong leadership in any organization to conduct the orchestra of their enterprise.  A strong leader assesses a situation, gets to know the stakeholders, begins to understand their schema, and then uses each person in such a way that they are operating in their greatest area of strength to benefit the whole of the organization.  Once a leader has accomplished that, they may strategically begin to build teams around strengths to help strengthen their organization, and to help utilize the right people in the right area to create the greatest impact.


We do this in schools every day with the development of leadership teams, and PLC's (professional learning communities), and even a variety of task forces to problem solve, and committees and other various teams to lead implementation efforts. 

So now my wondering is, can we do a similar process in classrooms?  What if we build smaller versions of grade level, student led leadership teams, and classroom PLC's, and what if we began to chip away at the tight structures within education that lend themselves to a more direct instruction model, to begin to not just look at differentiation within instruction, but rather differentiation within a learning system within the classroom?

 I'm getting more excited as I process through this idea....what if we did this? What we really took the words of the Common Core, and the verbage of "creating students who are college and career ready", and actually began to create systems and structures within the classroom, and school that are small scale versions of a larger, more global work force?

What if even at a kindergarten age we began to teach our little ones how to take on the role of leader, of advocate for their learning, and as they get older we refine and strengthen their roles, and teach them about their strengths, teach them TO their strengths, and then give them opportunities to DEVELOP those strengths within varied leadership roles and opportunities throughout their education. What if we teach our students through the vehicle of building their leadership capacity?

What if we did this? What if we took a risk, took down the isolations, and silos within educational systems and structures and began to approach learning with a growth mindset...

So now I ask....why not? Why not try? Why not start with our students who have been labeled as "least likely to succeed"? What's the worst that can happen? The current system has already failed them, so what's to lose? No great change agent in history made change without taking a risk, without sounding foolish perhaps with outrageous ideas (and yes, I know you may be thinking that about me;) at this point in this post), but why not? Someone has to look at this with a fresh, and innovative perspective.  Innovation always comes with risk, and some failures, before reward.:)

Let's do this!! Don't ask me how as this started to unfold in my head in traffic today...I don't know exactly how yet, but I'm for sure going to find out!!:))) Now to find my action research willing participants.:)

As always...I welcome your thoughts, ideas, wonderings.:)