Where is Your Vision as You Drive Your Classroom?

This morning, I heard a powerful lesson presented by Chris Seidman. In the lesson, he gave an analogy to living your life that I immediately applied to the classroom. So, here is my twist to his analogy!

First of all, imagine yourself driving your car. You can continually look in the rear view mirror to see what is behind you, but without looking ahead, you will swerve and not be prepared for what is ahead of you. Additionally, you can continually look through the windshield without ever referencing what is around you, however your navigation could be altered if you do not reflect periodically on what is behind you. Or finally, you can drive looking through the windshield, ever so often checking your surroundings through the rear view mirror as you head toward your destination. Think of how small the rear view mirror is as opposed to the large windshield. This reflects the amount of time you should spend looking in each direction to maximize the probability of a successful journey.

As a teacher, you take your students on a journey of learning. If you continue to only use teaching strategies that you have used in the past, your students will not be prepared for what is in their future. However, if you are only implementing new teaching strategies and do not reflect back on effective strategies used in the past, there can be learning bumps along the way as well. Educators must have a good balance of using new teaching strategies that prepare students to be successful using 21st Century Skills, yet periodically look back on the strategies used in the past to help guide the implementation of 21st Century Skills so that student learning is enhanced and they are prepared for their future.

New students are about to arrive in your classroom, buckled up and ready for you to take them on a learning journey. Where is your vision as you prepare lesson activities for the upcoming school year?