16 min
Missing the Big Picture? How to Keep the Main Thing the Main Thing In the Middle of It with Amy Kelly, The Ish Girl
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- Education
YOUR NORTH STAR AND YOUR BIG PICTURE In our last episode, we talked about the overwhelm and paralysis that often accompanies teaching. We focused on choosing a “North Star,” a big picture, guiding value that helps us create boundaries within our classrooms, and priorities for organizing our time.
However, even once you’ve established student learning as your North Star, it’s still easy to fall into overwhelm and paralysis. Because devoting the necessary time to planning and instruction means filtering out all the noise. It can feel like a constant battle.
THE BIG PICTURE BATTLE One of the sources of that noise can even be your administration.
As leaders, their bosses encourage them to stay on the “cutting edge” of education, and often that means adopting new “methods” of instruction.
Teachers are on the ground with those initiatives, the place where the rubber meets the road.
As beginning teachers, it can be exhausting every time your district/school adopts a new “method.” Learning the method distracts you from perfecting your craft.
VISUALIZING THE BIG PICTURE To make sure I’m articulating this the way I want to, here’s another way to think about it.
The Mission, Should You Choose To Accept It Imagine your content as a package. Your job is to get the package to your students, in a way they can open it up and use it. There are a million ways to deliver the package, but some are more efficient than others. Some are easier for you, because of your personality and gifts. Others are more effective for the students.
The Package As a beginning teacher a huge part of the learning curve is understanding exactly what is in the package – the big picture, your content – and studying and discovering the best ways others have delivered the same package to their students.
The Delivery How you deliver the package is your method. You can drive it in a truck, or on a motorcycle. You can send it by airplane.
The Tools You also give your students tools to open up the package – things like scissors to open the box, language for how to read and follow the instruction in the box, and a screwdriver to use for putting together what’s inside.
Keeping It Simple As a newer teacher, you want to keep all this as simple as possible – as you gain more and more experience, you’ll get a feel for what works and what doesn’t, and gain a comfort level with trying new things and making adjustments.
The Struggle The struggle point is when your administration adopts that new method. Keeping our example going, what they’re saying is that you need to use this new Tesla (a stick-shift) to deliver your package, and you must use this particular highway, and here are the tools we want you to give your students to open the box: a hammer, a straw, and a stick of gum.
(Okay, that’s a little snarky, but you get what I mean.)
WHERE TO BEGIN When you are at the learning-the-package, big picture stage, figuring out that new delivery system can push you over the edge.
This is where it can get murky and become hard for teachers to know what to focus on first. It’s one of those places you might hit overwhelm and find yourself paralyzed, even though you know you have so much to do.
What we’re talking about today is how to stay on track and keep moving forward by keeping your “main thing” in mind.
KEEPING THE MAIN THING THE MAIN THING Again, this is where the north star we’ve chosen comes into play. As we talked about in Episode 112, with this guiding our big picture, we know our priority is to move our students forward in their learning in the area we teach, so they know what they need to know by the end of the year.
So, looking at that big picture, where to start?
ASK YOURSELF THIS FIRST The first question to ask yourself is: what do I need to teach?
The answer, for most, is: Objectives. The standards and benchmarks, essential elements, or whatever your district or state calls them.
So, are you clear on y
YOUR NORTH STAR AND YOUR BIG PICTURE In our last episode, we talked about the overwhelm and paralysis that often accompanies teaching. We focused on choosing a “North Star,” a big picture, guiding value that helps us create boundaries within our classrooms, and priorities for organizing our time.
However, even once you’ve established student learning as your North Star, it’s still easy to fall into overwhelm and paralysis. Because devoting the necessary time to planning and instruction means filtering out all the noise. It can feel like a constant battle.
THE BIG PICTURE BATTLE One of the sources of that noise can even be your administration.
As leaders, their bosses encourage them to stay on the “cutting edge” of education, and often that means adopting new “methods” of instruction.
Teachers are on the ground with those initiatives, the place where the rubber meets the road.
As beginning teachers, it can be exhausting every time your district/school adopts a new “method.” Learning the method distracts you from perfecting your craft.
VISUALIZING THE BIG PICTURE To make sure I’m articulating this the way I want to, here’s another way to think about it.
The Mission, Should You Choose To Accept It Imagine your content as a package. Your job is to get the package to your students, in a way they can open it up and use it. There are a million ways to deliver the package, but some are more efficient than others. Some are easier for you, because of your personality and gifts. Others are more effective for the students.
The Package As a beginning teacher a huge part of the learning curve is understanding exactly what is in the package – the big picture, your content – and studying and discovering the best ways others have delivered the same package to their students.
The Delivery How you deliver the package is your method. You can drive it in a truck, or on a motorcycle. You can send it by airplane.
The Tools You also give your students tools to open up the package – things like scissors to open the box, language for how to read and follow the instruction in the box, and a screwdriver to use for putting together what’s inside.
Keeping It Simple As a newer teacher, you want to keep all this as simple as possible – as you gain more and more experience, you’ll get a feel for what works and what doesn’t, and gain a comfort level with trying new things and making adjustments.
The Struggle The struggle point is when your administration adopts that new method. Keeping our example going, what they’re saying is that you need to use this new Tesla (a stick-shift) to deliver your package, and you must use this particular highway, and here are the tools we want you to give your students to open the box: a hammer, a straw, and a stick of gum.
(Okay, that’s a little snarky, but you get what I mean.)
WHERE TO BEGIN When you are at the learning-the-package, big picture stage, figuring out that new delivery system can push you over the edge.
This is where it can get murky and become hard for teachers to know what to focus on first. It’s one of those places you might hit overwhelm and find yourself paralyzed, even though you know you have so much to do.
What we’re talking about today is how to stay on track and keep moving forward by keeping your “main thing” in mind.
KEEPING THE MAIN THING THE MAIN THING Again, this is where the north star we’ve chosen comes into play. As we talked about in Episode 112, with this guiding our big picture, we know our priority is to move our students forward in their learning in the area we teach, so they know what they need to know by the end of the year.
So, looking at that big picture, where to start?
ASK YOURSELF THIS FIRST The first question to ask yourself is: what do I need to teach?
The answer, for most, is: Objectives. The standards and benchmarks, essential elements, or whatever your district or state calls them.
So, are you clear on y
16 min