I engaged in a crucial conversation with a group of teachers today. Issues were on the table and everyone did not agree. It would have perhaps been easier to shut down the conversation and make a demanding imperative. I could have exercised my authority, but instead, I created an opportunity for my teachers to challenge me and each other in a genuine dialogue about the impact of scheduling and the pressure of testing and the power of motivation and the dimensions of our expectations. We covered a number of other topics that were driven my individual passions by different people and were related in some way to what brought us together in the first place. In teachers’ voices and faces, I could hear and see how important their respective stances were to each of them. I also sensed that we were teetering on the edge of the conversation self-destructing. But we persisted. We paused. We looked at one another and interestingly we formed a physical and metaphorical circle. The dialogue continued.
We must talk to one another to become better educators. We must be willing to make ourselves vulnerable and to join the circle of dialogue if we expect to arrive at a different place than where we started. Otherwise, we will stagnate. If we want the same, no need to talk. The learning comes in our debate and the consideration of other points of view. I’m not sure we really believe what we think we believe until that belief is brought under scrutiny and challenged.
Adopting various viewpoinits and understanding the world-at-large is a critical 21st century global disposition that we desire to inculcate in our students. In doing so, I believe we hope to cocreate a better world. That’s why we become teachers – to change the world. We want our students to weigh options and persuade others. We want them to be critical thinkers and global learners. If our students can communicate with one another and take on different perspectives and understand the ripple effect of their words and actions, the hope is that they will change the social worlds in which they are members. But they can only learn to dialogue with others with differing opinions if given opportunities.
Before we can expect teachers to allow students to debate and to value others’ contributions, don’t we have to model crucial conversations with colleagues ourselves? It’s some of the hardest work that we do. It’s exhausting and mentally taxing. Teachers are passionate people. As leaders, we have to create safe places if we expect to grow our teachers. We have to support them in making their thinking known. We have to be willing to shift our position and learn from them. We have to be ready to be wrong. Furthermore, these opportunities can serve as catalysts for more dialogue and more opportunities for learning. As we departed the circle of conversation today, I couldn’t help but hope that the learning had just begun. I hope my teachers will reflect and revisit and research and carry on the dialogue. I hope they will ask the hard questions because they care. I hope they will learn to look deep into one another’s eyes and seek to understand one another. I hope they will share their deepest worries. I hope they will learn to compromise but only if persuaded. I hope the same for our students. I hope the same for my own children.
This work takes time and practice. We can learn from each other, but we have to create a community of colleagues that seek out opportunities to talk. Recognize and invite colleagues to join you in crucial conversations.
theprincipalofpossibilities 