Uncomfortableness And Messiness Are Essential To Learning
- Sarah Hodgson
- Feb 22, 2013
- 3 min read
I know that I’m doing significant personal/professional learning when I feel uncomfortable. It’s when I start to feel uneasy about what I am currently doing and start wanting to change things up a notch. Things get messy and I work through the mess until I start to feel more comfortable again. I haven’t felt uncomfortable for a while. Mess has not been present. In my book that’s not good for me!
On Monday I started to feel it. On Tuesday the feeling got stronger and by Wednesday I knew change would be inevitable. What, or rather who, had sparked this uncomfortableness? An extremely knowledgeable, highly respected and passionate educator named Kath Murdoch (@kjinquiry). She spent four days at our school working with staff and I think it is safe to say that it was one of the most inspiring PD ‘injections’ I have received in recent years.
On Monday, Kath led a day-long workshop on teaching ‘Literacy Through Inquiry’. On Tuesday I met with Kath and the Grade 1 team to plan a lesson that she would teach the following day. On Wednesday Kath modelled an inquiry lesson with a class of Grade 1 students. Even by the end of first day I had identified something that I needed to work on:
For me, this was more of a shake up. A kick up the backside. Hearing about things that I know I need to be talking about in the classroom. Things that I USED to do. Why did I stop? Maybe the pressure of thinking that I need to ‘cover’ all the content in the curriculum made me stray from the important stuff. The lifelong concepts and skills. Thinking about THINKING. Actively and passionately talking about metacognition with the students using ‘grown-up’ words.
So, all this uncomfortableness and messiness has sparked a revitalisation. On Thursday I used one of the organisers that Kath had modelled. I made it more about the students and THEIR thinking.
Energised, I am! Of course I know that everything won’t magically change overnight and I’m prepared for some failures. Failures are GOOD! But these are the areas I am going to actively enhance and develop in my classroom (I hope!):
Building the language of learning. Modeling the real, adult language. Students need to hear teachers talking about how they are thinking. Read this on Kath’s blog – Inquiry is an approach, not a subject. Awesome post. I completely agree that “the language we use with students matters”.
Giving the students more choice, more voice. Less us, more them.
Planning less, going slower, focusing more deeply on learning. Take time to focus on the IMPORTANT stuff. Big ideas. Big concepts.
Modeling AWE and CURIOSITY!
Making thinking visible with graphic organisers.
Providing time for students to feel uncomfortable and experience the mess – an important part of the learning process.
Harnessing the power of the unplanned moment – sometimes the best inquiry work we do is the one that is not planned. Allowing myself to go (mindfully) with unplanned moments.
During her visit, Kath reminded us that ‘every inquiry journey is an opportunity for students to find out about themselves as learners’. I’m committed to a continuous inquiry journey of my own… and I’m looking forward to finding out more about myself as a learner.
Thank you, Kath, for the inspiration. And the kick – I needed it!
Image: ‘Classroom Sign: The Mess‘ http://www.flickr.com/photos/28430474@N05/6002789072 Found on flickrcc.net
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