Thought of the Day: Jan.2, 2014

What are you going to take off your plate?

The great ideas on Twitter and other forms of social media will no doubt continue to come blasting at us in 2014. It is truly amazing to see all of the excellent practice happening in education. However, it is impossible to effectively implement too many good ideas at once. I think of Dylan William, the great educational consultant, and one thing in particular he said during his visit to Nanjing International School this past September; 'When trying to implement a new instructional strategy, what are you going to take off your plate to make space for it?'

As educators, many of us already have a number of excellent strategies that we already put into practice on a regular basis. It becomes quite challenging to just pile on a new strategy even if it is a better one. Teaching is already a tough enough job, so creating a pile on effect certainly does not make our professional lives any easier to manage. So, the bigger challenge becomes identifying what we are going to take off our plates in order to create space for the better strategies and ideas that come along. 


When setting goals for yourself or implementing new instructional strategies, what are you going to take off your plate to free up space. Freeing up this space is critical to effectively implement your new idea. Not as easy as it sounds but very important to consider. Thanks for reading.