A Simple Look at Change

If you want to change some things in your life, you have to change some things in your life. This is because if you always do what you've always done, you'll always get what you've always gotten. - Unknown

Sometimes - especially in the realm of education - I think that we tend to overcomplicate things.

Which is ironic, in some ways, because most educators are working with children. And children, more often than not, tend to keep things fairly straightforward.

Quite simply, we often get out what we put in.

If, as educators, we care deeply for the children we serve, it's fairly likely that they'll care for us in return. If we show up every day and give the best part of us, at some point our students will start to respond in kind.

And if we want change - if we want to create a more just system where children have greater access to opportunities - then we might need to change our daily interactions with others. We might have to speak up a bit more at a staff meeting or two, or be willing to go head-to-head with another educator who is contributing to the inequitable ways of the status quo. We might have to self-examine our own practices and recognize our own potential for growth. And then DO something differently.

Conversely, if we're happy with the way things are and the way they are going, then we need to keep on doing what we know is working. We need to love our students - sometimes more than others. We need to inspire them to greatness. And we need to remind them that change is possible if we are willing to, well, change.