Education moves and changes quickly. It’s changing right now. We all feel it – and we should, because we care so much about it. The list of changes is long, and the opinions surrounding those changes is even longer. When we are the drivers of change it is new, exciting, and illuminated with possibility. But when the change comes from elsewhere we often wrestle with how it impacts us. We wonder what effect the change will have on our creativity, our time, and our energy. We ask, “How will this change intersect with my passion?”
And change brings debate in its back pocket.
The fundamental truth is that education requires necessary, constant shifts. We know that without change, we won’t grow. So we adapt, we flex, we stretch, and we learn. We seek the strongest strategies, prize the most relevant thinking, and share what inspires us. But change isn’t easy – and it’s especially unsettling when we don’t see an end of change on the horizon. What is the constant destination? When will we reach stable ground? What is the fixed point?
Where is it?
My answer is that you just might be standing on it.
Bedrock.
The beliefs that everything else relies upon.
The question that can lead us to bedrock may be one you’ve heard before: “What do you believe about students?”
About 20 years ago, before stepping into my first classroom, I was asked that very question. My simple answer was that all students can learn. That was not bedrock. That was a basic understanding.
Shortly afterward, I stepped into my teaching career and into a remarkable new understanding of the question. My students amazed me, stunned me, surprised me, and left me realizing that “all students can learn” is a complete understatement. I quickly realized that there are no words to describe the potential of each child. It’s simply too staggering. There is no answer that could reach high enough to match the ability that each child has. Such an answer would fall short, and would do a disservice to the astonishing learning potential of each student.
“What do you believe about students?”
I answer the question very differently now.
Students are absolutely amazing. They are truly astonishing learners. They are talented beyond my wildest understanding. Their potential soars far above anything that I will ever comprehend or imagine.
That is bedrock.
When it seems like too many ideas are coming and going, and when it seems like change is swirling so fast that I can’t find a fixed point on the horizon, I can always look to this educational bedrock: Students are absolutely amazing. Their learning potential is staggering. The are truly incredible, and it is an extraordinary honor to work with them.
I am very fortunate to have worked with students who have taught me this reality. They caused me to rethink the question, and the answer that I have found has become bedrock. So, that is the very question I would like to share with you.
“What do you believe about students?”
If you truly wrestle with the answer, you just may find bedrock.
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