WHAT IS POSSIBLE?
  • Welcome
  • The Aligned Leader Blog
  • Consulting and Coaching Opportunities
  • My TED X Talk
  • My Leadership Blog
  • Run Your Life Podcast Series
  • How PYP PE with Andy Has Helped Others
  • Good Teaching is L.I.F.E
  • The Sportfolio
  • Example Assessment Tasks
  • PYP Attitude Posters (printable)
  • Publications

LEADERSHIP, LEARNING, &  PErsonal Growth

Thought of the Day: Sunday, August 10th, 2014

8/9/2014

1 Comment

 

Are we sometimes our own worst enemy? 

Picture
While on Twitter this morning checking out the latest chats and tweets, I came across a great cartoon posted by Lisa Duty that sums up exactly how innovation can be perceived by others. Although the cartoon below made me chuckle straight away, there is an unfortunate truth to it. Firstly, the person who is speaking in the cartoon is no doubt a boss, manager, or supervisor and he is speaking to a subordinate. This subordinate obviously has a great idea, something new and innovative that he would like to try out. The boss recognizes that it may be innovative but squashes any chance of this idea being put into action. Have you ever experienced anything like this in the work you do? 

The second angle I'd like you to consider and the main point of this blog post is to get you to think about to what extent you represent both people in the picture. As an educator, we teach in certain ways and have created a number of routines that dictate how we deliver our lessons, units, and assessment. However, can we be our own worst enemy at times? Is there a voice sometimes within us that shoots down our potential to create positive change in our teaching practice? Do we sometimes come across innovative and creative ideas that sound amazing to us, but have a default setting that pops up and says, "Although this idea sounds great and I love it, it's just not possible for me and my teaching?".

I choose to believe that all educators have only the greatest of intentions for their students. They want to create the very best learning experiences and environment for their students in order to help them succeed. I get all this. However, I still think that we can be our own worst enemy at times and stifle our own potential to become even better at what we do. 

The purpose of this blog post is to make you think about the little voice inside of your head and assess the quality of comments it makes to you when you strive to better your practice. If it's ever saying things that prevent you from keeping your mind open and receptive to new and innovative ideas in education, you need to stomp all over it. Squash it and don't allow it to speak. Doing so will ensure that you not only remain open to these innovative ideas, but try them out more and more in your teaching. Any thoughts? Comment below! Thanks. 
1 Comment
Diane Walker
8/11/2014 01:03:34 am

Andy,
Yes I have experienced this in my job. My question is, when you share your innovative idea with your principal and he shoots it down, what should you do next?

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    RSS Feed

    Author

    KAUST Faculty, Pedagogical Coach. Presenter & Workshop Leader.IB Educator. #RunYourLife podcast host. 
    Speaker. Husband, Father, Golfer #Physed #TedX

    Check out my about.me profile!
    Tweets by @andyvasily

    Archives

    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2021
    October 2020
    January 2020
    August 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    June 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    November 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011
    August 2011
    July 2011
    June 2011
    May 2011
    April 2011
    March 2011
    February 2011
    January 2011

    RSS Feed

    RSS Feed

Helping Kids to Achieve Their Best
  • Welcome
  • The Aligned Leader Blog
  • Consulting and Coaching Opportunities
  • My TED X Talk
  • My Leadership Blog
  • Run Your Life Podcast Series
  • How PYP PE with Andy Has Helped Others
  • Good Teaching is L.I.F.E
  • The Sportfolio
  • Example Assessment Tasks
  • PYP Attitude Posters (printable)
  • Publications