http://ajjuliani.com/real-reason-teachers-leaders-overwhelmed/

http://ajjuliani.com/real-reason-teachers-leaders-overwhelmed/

Imagine you’ve been in education for 7, 11, 15 or even 25 years. In each of those years, you have grown as a professional, learned new technologies, shifted with the standards, had new initiative after new initiative started in your school, and seen the way you have been evaluated move from observations to data back to observations and data.

Over the years you’ve had constant turnover in your administration. New Principals,  new Superintendents, new Directors of Curriculum, and many Special Education leaders. You’ve seen some of your best friends and teachers leave the classroom.

Some have gone on to administration.

Some have left the school.

And some have left the profession altogether.

Your curriculum has been changed multiple times and you are starting another revision, complete with a shift to new standards.

The schedule has changed three times. You’re now required to have common unit based assessments multiple times a year. You are part of a school data team that looks at all of this “stuff” and tries to make sense of where you can make an impact.

And in the midst of all this change, you are actually getting excited because students are now able to bring devices into school, or maybe your school is giving them devices. Although many are worried because this is going to change everything, again, and it’s not going to be easier.

And you are exhausted.

Not so much by the students, although they have changed over the years.

Not so much by the parents, who have definitely changed over the years. But mostly by managing all of this…picking yourself up

But mostly by managing all of this, picking yourself up every day, and believing you’re doing good work, with good people, for the right reasons.

The Struggle Is Real…And Worth It

I asked teachers and school leaders what they were struggling with a few months ago, and this is a compilation of their similar story. The two words used most in email responses to my question were “frustrated” and “desperate”…

In the wake of a new year, I wrote about how pumped I am for education moving forward. But I can’t help to notice the sighs of desperation and frustration inside many classrooms.

Most of us got into education because we wanted to make a difference in the lives of our students.

Education is the bridge to so many opportunities in this country and around the world. We know as teachers and school leaders the avenues it can open up to any student, and we also know how hard it is for some students to overcome personal circumstances without the help of teachers who care and want to make a difference.

It seems that change (and there has been much of it in the last 5, 10, 15 years) frustrates many of us, and leaves us desperate for some consistency in the teaching profession.

I wouldn’t argue that point.

Yet, change (like anything else), is not all bad and not all good. It’s a mixed bag.

What is true is that change is constant. It’s also getting exponentially quicker. This is not only in education, but in many fields of work. It’s taken a while for change to pick up the speed with which we now see it in the classroom, but it has always been there.

So, how do we handle this as teachers and school leaders? How can we keep the frustration and desperation from boiling over and hurting all potential progress? More importantly how can we make sure the frustration and desperation does not trickle down to our students and impact their learning experience in a negative way?

Well, we can start with these guiding beliefs:

1. Change is constant, let’s focus on how we manage it

If you don’t like something, change it. If you can’t change it, change your attitude – Maya Angelou

We may not be able to influence what types of changes are made in schools. Some we are going to love and support. Some we are going to disagree with and oppose. Regardless, the one thing we do have control over is how we manage change as an organization, team, and individual.

Start with yourself. How are you talking about change? How are you managing the process? What can you do to help colleagues through the change?

2. Don’t wait for training, be a learner, go out and seek it

If we accept that change is constant, we also have to realize learning is constant. Professional development and training can only take you so far as an individual. If you want to be successful through times of change then go out and seek new learning opportunities and training.

The internet has changed how we learn forever. Anything you want to learn (or need to learn) is most likely available online for free… This is not to say that organizations should not provide training. Of course they should. But how can we seek out learning opportunities (and share those opportunities with colleagues) that can help all of us in times of change?

3. Focus on the important things (many of these do not change)

Are students engaged? Are they empowered? Are we challenging students and supporting students through various learning activities? Is the classroom a student-centered experience? Are we focusing on the whole child?

I get that curriculum changes. Technology changes. New initiatives are always around the corner. But the best practices of “how we learn” are focused on student-centered experiences with the right amount of challenge and support for all of our learners.

What can we focus on in the midst of all the change?

Our students.

And consistently focusing on what is best for them.

If you are feeling frustrated in your current situation, or desperate for some help in managing all of this change, take a step back.

Or maybe you are frustrated because you are changing, innovating, and doing creative work, yet can’t seem to get others to buy in and join the movement.

In either case, take a moment to breathe and look at the big picture.

The Silver Lining: Innovation Can Come Out of Frustration

I was frustrated as a teacher a few years ago when I thought all my 11th grade students cared about was their grades. Out of this frustration came the 20% project in my class.

I was desperate for a new way to teach students about human rights violations and genocide. Having them read articles and watch a few videos wasn’t cutting it, because the students needed to “do something” about these issues. Out of this desperation came a collaborative project that my students helped create: Project Global Inform.

As a K-12 Technology staff developer many of our staff members were frustrated that they had to learn about a new tool with the entire staff during an in service when they already were using it. Why have the same training when everyone was on different levels? Our game-based professional development missions came out of this frustration.

Last year, a fantastic teacher I worked with was frustrated with how “Industrial Arts” still looked for the most part like it did when he was in high school. After a lot of hard work, this frustration turned into a new 9th grade course (Creative Design & Engineering) and a reworking of the entire scope and sequence to create a true Maker Department.

A group of teachers in my district were frustrated that our students weren’t getting some of the same opportunities and experiences as those students from other neighboring districts. That led to the creation of a CentennialX: a summer internship and human-centered design program where students work with real companies to create products, pitch those products, and present their work at conferences (like Stanford’s MedX) around the country.

If we choose to let frustration and desperation get the better of us…then we choose to miss the silver lining:

Innovative ideas come out of frustration. 

We tend to think of creativity and innovation as something that happens outside the box.

But I would disagree.

The most creative and innovative work comes from circumstances that force a new type of thinking for solutions inside the box.

It reminds me of the scene in Apollo 13 when the carbon dioxide is building and they have to make a filter using only the materials inside the shuttle. There is pressure. There is frustration. And there is a group of desperate people working to create an innovative solution…

Put all the circumstances out on the table. Embrace the feelings of desperation and frustration. And then create something inside the box that is going to benefit everyone.

Because the only other option is to give in and give up. And that sure wouldn’t be any fun!

Start by getting the FREE Innovative Teaching Toolbox by signing-up below. It’s filled with articles, resources, and videos to jumpstart the journey out of frustration and towards innovation.