Jan 28, 2021

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 your objectives for your students?

Because Your objectives are truly your “main thing”.

How can you keep your “main thing your main thing”?

USE THE BIG PICTURE TO BEGIN WITH THE END

One of the best ways to tackle the feeling of overwhelm when it comes to instructional content is to start with your end goals in mind.

Where do they need to be at the end of this year? At the end of the semester? The quarter? The month? The week? The day?

In education, we call that, “backward design”.

BACKWARD DESIGN

If you’re a Steven Covey fan, backward design the educational version of “Begin with the end in mind.”

Here’s a “proper” definition from an article that I’m including in the show notes:

Backward design is “a process that educators use to design learning experiences and instructional techniques to achieve specific learning goals. Backward design begins with the objectives of a unit or course—what students are expected to learn and be able to do—and then proceeds “backward” to create lessons that achieve those desired goals. In most public schools, the educational goals of a course or unit will be a given state’s learning standards”

THE BIG PICTURE IS . . . WELL, BIG

That, my friends, is a great big job for someone at the beginning of their teaching journey.

And hear me, please: THAT IS OKAY.

It is okay to keep things as simple as possible as you learn the ropes.

Time is something that you don’t have a lot of as a teacher.

You need to use it wisely.

That means that letting yourself get distracted by new methods can seriously cut into your instructional practice and planning.

SO, WHAT’S THE ANSWER?

In the same way you chose a big picture value to guide your decision-making (which we talked about in the last episode,) you need to develop a big picture approach to your planning. With that kind of plan, when new things are thrown at you, you know where to tuck them into your overall goals for your students.

TAKE THAT FIRST STEP

It’s easy to get overwhelmed, even paralyzed by the process of instructional planning.

Take a small step in this process. Start thinking and planning with the end in mind.

Map out where you want your students to be by the end of the year and work backward to achieve your goal.

It doesn’t matter where you are in the school year. Use this process as a self-assessment of your instructional practice. Reflect on where you and your students are and what you need to cover the rest of the year.

BIG PICTURE BONUS – IT CREATES BOUNDARIES

This big picture approach helps you put boundaries around your time because you know what your priorities are. Not only that but also, having a big picture perspective will improve your practice, reduce overwhelm and make you more connected to the needs of your students.