Goal 5: Step Out of Your Comfort Zone of The 30 Goals Challenge for Educators. Click the link to find out more about the 30 Goals Challenge for Educators.
“A ship in port is safe, but that is not what ships are built for. Sail out to sea and do new things.” ~ Grace Hopper
This year with the 30 Goals Challenge for Educators, our 30 Goals Facebook community is voting on what some of the goals will be. We are grabbing this from the list of goals from the previous 3 cycles. This year’s theme is, “This is MY Moment.” Each goal will focus on getting educators to believe their plans of action now will lead to positive changes and transformation in their teaching and learning environments. We will also be having our 4th Google Hang-Out interview on Wednesday, July 17th with Sylvia Guinan, @ESLBrain,who is an amazing educator in Greece. Find the livestream here, https://hx7.c5f.myftpupload.com/30goals2013/the-30-goals-live-interviews and ask Sylvia questions through our Facebook group.
My Take on the Goal
All of us have our ports, our places where we feel safe. We develop rituals and those rituals help us to manage our time and the stress of being an educator. These rituals are a necessity and can help us keep our sanity. There comes a time when each of us has an idea or opportunity that challenges our comfort zone and differs so much from the rituals we develop. We need to be able to seize those opportunities and go forth with new ideas. We need to be able to take risks so we grow as educators and also help our learners grow. For many teachers, integrating a new technology, allowing students more choices and control in the curriculum, or alternative assessments are out of their comfort zones. And once we begin the journey to something different, we must also realize that change is difficult. The first time we decide to integrate technology, it may fail us. The first time we decide not to use letter grades, parents may get upset with us. The first time our learners get to make curricular choices we may struggle with classroom management. The idea is to try the change because we feel it will improve learning for our students. When you step out of your comfort zone, expect it to be uncomfortable but stick with it. We are here to support you and see you through the transformation that will occur because you embarked on the journey outside your comfort zone.
Short-term– Commit to stepping out of your comfort zone and setting your ship to sea. I have built the Ships Sailing Padlet wall where we can post how we are going to step out of our comfort zones so we leave the comfort of our ports. Please post this here with the rest of us, http://padlet.com/wall/shipssailing
Here are ideas for you to step out of your comfort zone:
- Implement Genius Hour or 20% Time. These are two initiatives in which students are allowed time in class to explore their passions.
- Present differently-try using more visually pleasing presentations, getting the audience to participate more, or doing an open space presentation this year. Willy Cardosa explains in this post how he conducted his open space presentation that I was fortunate to be a part of.
- Rearrange your classroom in a small way- Try setting up learning stations, changing your classroom environment to support more student centered learning, or teaching without your desk for a day.
- Allow students to decide how they want a lesson to be taught or to teach the lesson once a week.
- Teach paperless every Friday- read about this initiative at the Teach Paperless blog.
- Contact each parent and share with them specific ways their children made you proud.
- Present an idea to your principal.
Long-term– Think about what uncomfortable change you will make either in your professional or personal life and encourage yourself to be bold enough to make that step in the upcoming week. After this initial step, find more opportunities to step out of your comfort zone.
More Resources
- 10 Simple Ideas for Transforming Your Teaching This Year
- Step Out of Your Comfort Zone by Theodora Pap
- Goal 7, Cycle 1 Step Out of Your Comfort Zone
Challenge:
Post on the Set Sail Wall what way you will step out of your comfort zone.
Please leave a comment that you accomplished this goal by either posting your own video reflection on Youtube, using the hashtag #30GoalsEdu, posting on the 30 Goals Facebook group, or adding a comment below! All goals are organized in this 30 Goals Livebinder.
If you enjoyed this post, you may want to subscribe for FREE to receive regular updates!
Please fill out this Google Form if you reflected on at least 1 goal so you will be listed in a 30 Goals blog list and on a 30 Goals Twitter list.
