When I first began teaching I was open to any and every idea that would help me to sustain my career. I was often afraid that I would get fired for ineptitude. Well, I was close a few times in those early years. As the first year turned into the second, and second turned into the fifth, I soon realized that I was pretty comfortable with my routine. My preps stopped changing and I then knew all the answers. The system that I had worked very well. The test scores were always very high, the students appeared to be happy, and parents didn't really complain (to my face at least).
I was too comfortable.
I eventually moved to a different school and tried teaching the same way. That was a mental car crash on a daily basis. The students were not interested, the resources were lacking, the administration was apathetic, and the parents were not very involved, at all. I found myself starting all over. I was worried about my ineptitude once again because I was not very successful.
I was stuck in a fixed mindset.
Looking at the image for the Universal Design for Learning, it appears that I was good at teaching the "what", and sometimes the "how", but I was definitely not good with the "why". I only lasted a year before I moved to a new school. I found that same comfort zone in teaching that I had before. I was much better with the "how" at this point. I started to grow as a teacher, but then I plateaued
as soon as I had an opportunity. I didn't know any better. Again, the scores were great, the students appeared interested and laughed at my "dad jokes" throughout the year, and the parents were very happy.
My real changes actually began when the students AND my colleagues challenged me. When the students don't care at all about my subject, I find myself stepping out of the fixed mindset and moving toward the growth mindset. Once I moved to my current school district, I was surrounded by colleagues that were insanely intelligent and worked relentlessly to find creative ways to educate our students. I had to grow just to keep up.
One of my goals was to win the teacher of the year award. It took 7 years to do so in a school with almost 3000 students, but it happened. My new goal is to change the administration's format relating to technology integration in the classroom. My plan is to have a blended campus in the next 3 years. That will take a lot of growth from the students, teachers, and administration. I don't think it will be as difficult a process as it appears. I think that my school needs to adopt the mantra "If it isn't broke, STILL FIX IT."
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