Teachers, Leave Your Comfort Zones

The Adventure Begins

As we begin our journey in Adventures in Modern Learning, we want to share our musing about adventure and how it plays a vital role in the evolution of teaching and learning. We are instructional coaches by title, but we very much identify as adventure guides helping teachers and learners to navigate the shift toward student-driven learning. As you follow our journeys and share in our adventures, please feel encouraged to share your own stories of adventure (or misadventure) in student-driven learning.

Adventure is a Process

Let’s be honest, teachers are planners. When we plan our family vacations, we don’t take a single step out the door without reservations in hand, a route calculated and every conceivable item we may need. In our professional adventures, we take the same time and care in our planning. Learning objectives are determined, and activities are designed to help students meet the goals. But, what if we dared to think of a classroom where students were the adventurers, striking out into the unknown with their goals and plans firmly in hand? What is possible if we pass the baton to our learners and bring their learning to the forefront and their unique talents and needs directed their path? Follow us here as we aim to answer these questions and so many more. So, in the spirit of adventure, join us as we begin our adventures (and misadventures) in student-driven learning!

Step 1: Leaving comfort zone

Let’s begin with the obvious: routine and predictability are the antithesis of adventure. Is there a place for routine and predictability? Yes, of course there is -- we like to know where our coffee is coming from every day. But, it is not the stuff of adventure. If routine is where we feel safe and confident, then adventure is where we feel frightened, but also alive and renewed. The first step to our adventure, any adventure, is to leave the comfort zone, and, the more successful you feel in the “comfort zone” the more difficult it is to leave.

Routine and predictability are the antithesis of adventure. Is there a place for routine and predictability? Yes, of course there is -- we like to know where our coffee is coming from every day. But, it is not the stuff of adventure. If routine is where we feel safe and confident, then adventure is where we feel frightened, but also alive and renewed.

Step 2: Select the destination

Even the most enthusiastic adventurers rarely set out without a destination. Leaving your comfort zone with a plan in place can be terrifying, but leaving without a plan is akin to jumping without a parachute. You might survive it, but as your adventure guides, we frown on it. For our work toward student-driven learning, a framework for Personalized Learning became our evident destination. Our community was asking for more attention to the needs of individual learners and our teachers were asking for more autonomy to meet student needs. Personalized Learning emerged as our call to adventure.

Step 3: Determine Your Path

We quickly decided the path to bringing Personalized Learning to our building was to offer professional learning opportunities to teachers. As coaches, we were able to provide different types of learning based on our teachers’ interests and needs. Our feeling was that a grassroots effort to bring about instructional change would make for a much smoother road to our destination.

Step 4: A Call for Travelers

Traveling is more fun when you can share the experience with other people who want to reach the same destination. Once we shared our destination and offered to travel the path with any interested teachers, we found a small, but enthusiastic, group of travelers. The unique skills sets and perspectives they have brought to our work has made our cohort invaluable!

Step 5: Buy Some Travel Insurance

Risk is inherent to traveling the unknown, so prudent travelers plan for the unexpected and purchase travel insurance. Our insurance came in the form of creating a supportive network of building and central office administrators. This insurance provides a safety net for us and our teachers as we take the risk of striking out into the unknown.

Step 6: Plan, Plan, Plan but Be Comfortable With the Unknown

Planning provides a certain amount of comfort and security, but the reality of traveling a path for the first time is that planning for every eventuality is impossible. Moving beyond acceptance to being comfortable with the uncertainty of the unknown makes for the kind of adventure you want to tell your friends and family about instead of your therapist. There are times we all falter, but relying on fellow travelers along the way helps to counteract the stress of unexpected turns and obstacles on the path.

Step 7: Strike Out

And, so here we are. The arrangements have been made, the planning has been done and it is time to strike out -- into the unknown! What awaits us is an adventure -- rife with excitement and fear, incredible achievements and deflating failure. But, ultimately, a better world awaits. Join Us!

We look forward to sharing our story and all of the trials and tribulations of our journey into student-driven learning. We hope to connect with and learn from our readers and, ultimately, we hope to become a little more comfortable with a lot more risk. After all, who among us wouldn’t put it all on the line for our kids?

May you have many adventures,

Kristi Levy & Heather Kangas

   

Kristi Levy - @KristiLevy                    Heather Kangas - @kangas_oasd
Instructional Technology                           Curriculum & Assessment
Oshkosh Area School District                   Oshkosh Area School District