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Where are You on the Journey?
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Teachers who seek to implement the principles of the learner-active, technology-infused classroom find themselves on a transformational journey through three distinct phases. These phases are not neatly confined to a year each and teachers may move back and forth among the phases. However, to maintain forward momentum, it is important to honestly and accurately critique your position on the journey and take deliberate steps to move further along. See if you can locate yourself in the three phases: Dynamic Disequilibrium - This phrase was coined by one of the first teachers with whom I had the pleasure to work in designing learner-active, technology-infused classrooms - Alysse Daches of Joyce Kilmer School in Mahwah. No matter how prepared you are to implement new instructional strategies, the learner-active classroom has so many complexities that implementation will undoubtedly cause many inconsistencies and conflicts to surface. During this first phase, teachers are eager to try new strategies, but sometimes find themselves needing to rethink the process based on less than desirable outcomes. Teachers who are not uncomfortable with trying something that may or may not work are much more able to "dig in" to the transformation process than those who are only comfortable trying something they are absolutely certain will work as planned. IContrived Equilibrium - After some trying and rethinking, teachers find themselves locking onto those things that appear to work. To a great extent, this is absent of reflection on the principles of the learner-active, technology-infused classroom. Instead, it is based on a successful learning experience in the classroom. Human beings seek homeostasis. The learning center, the assignment sheet, the technique for getting everyone's attention - these become easy targets as teachers build a contrived equilibrium. In this phase, teachers take those things that they perceive as working and tell others with great confidence that "this is the way to run a learner-active, technology-infused classroom." Joel Arthur Barker refers to this as "paradigm paralysis" - seeing a new way of looking at something and then not wishing to move from that paradigm. Although clearly not a place to stop on the journey, this is a necessary "resting" phase in the process. Reflective Practitioner - This is the goal! Teachers who are reflective practitioners take everything they do in the classroom and review it against the principles of the learner-active, technology-infused classroom, against current research, against the needs of an ever-changing society. Over the years, their classrooms undergo continual change. What worked as an assignment sheet one year is reworked for the next. Those in this phase tend to talk with others using phrases such as, "What works for me ..." and "At this point, I ..." rather than in more definitive statements. They keep notes and think deeply about how they might improve upon the instructional setting. They read regularly and attend workshops to extend their knowledge and then match that new knowledge against what they are currently doing. They never think they're "there!" It is a process, but it's worth the journey. Just as no one can expect a two year old to run and jump hurdles on the track team, no one can expect a teacher at the start of this process to be at the third phase. It is especially difficult for teachers who have at least ten years of experience to in essence return to that state of being first year teachers again. Teachers and administrators alike must embrace the process and not just seek the goal! |
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