“If things are going to stay the same, then things are going to have to change.”
- Giuseppe Tomasi Di Lampedusa
Here’s a novel idea: things will change in your school.
I know, not novel.
Almost 15 years in education have shown me that there is yearly change. There is within-year change. There are cultural changes, there are policy changes, there are demographic changes. You will still have your classroom, you just might have different aged kids. Depending on where you work, you might move buildings or even towns. You might have to change from traveling to being in one place. No matter the change, there will be change.
You can resist change or you can embrace it. You can go with the flow or try to stop it. The change will happen. By resisting, you might morph the change, but it will still happen. You can embrace the change, and think it’s right thing to do, and everything in your class or your building or even your life, could get turned upside down.
I’ve changed buildings, in the year my daughter was a newborn. I’ve changed roles, becoming a teacher/leader of sorts as the union representative for my building. I’ve interviewed for advancement, trying to force change in my life. In the end, the changes happened. I rolled with them, felt disoriented at times, and still put my head down and got to work.
There will be change. The change only becomes good or bad when we put our judgments on it. When we cling to a past or hope for a future. There will be change. You can say there will be silver lining, or greener grass on the other side. There will be change.
Accept the changes that are coming. Embrace them as they come and visit. They won’t be staying forever, because there is more change coming right behind it. Put your head down and get to work. That’s the only way through it.
