Preventing the Attempt, Attack, and Abandon Loop

Generating new ideas and thinking creatively are a huge part of our professional growth. It is critical to be innovative and to be willing to test out new ideas in our teaching practice. 

As we learn, grow, and develop ourselves as educators, we will experience failure. JIm Knight, a world renown instructional coach and researcher from the University of Kansas, states that one of the most self-destructive patterns that prevents lasting change in teacher practice is what he calls the Attempt, Attack, and Abandon loop. 
Do we give ourselves enough time to implement new ways of teaching?

​Implementing new teaching practice takes time. 

It takes critical feedback. 

It takes reaching out to those with more experience to guide us.

It takes self-adjusting and is never easy. 

In going full force and attacking these new strategies or teaching practice with zest, we will no doubt experience failure and often times disillusionment. However, these can be the greatest points in our learning journey, but we must remain open to the critical reflection needed to learn next steps needed to embed this practice on a long term basis.

We must give it the time needed. otherwise there is a likelihood that we will abandon it before it begins to grow its own wings to  fly.