Long Thread🤷♂️1) There is no one way in education. Of that, I am certain. For 23 years I have been looking for it, but in my search, all that I have found is a way, which becomes my way, until I find a better way, which then steps aside for the next way. There is no WAY.
2) Today, we see more ways than ever because of the work we share, ranging from the conventional to the crazy. And platforms like Twitter have revealed this in ways unthought of when I began my career in the fall of ‘96. Then, “ways” were found in books and PD pushed and
3) proffered by those with generally little time in the actual classroom, and we generally (sometimes reluctantly) settled for that because our options and worlds were small, and we had not the communities we do today. The eduTwitterverse and other ed communities did not exist.
4) As such, teachers were not connected as they are today. They did not have intimate, daily views into others’ classrooms. Today we do. Teachers from every corner OF THE WORLD are sharing their work and wisdom, their wonders and worries—their ways, with no two exactly alike.
5) And that is of consequence. For as we learn that no one way exists, that carries weight, that raises questions, especially in this era of high-stakes standardization we find ourselves. What is learning? Why don’t we have “a way” nearly 200 years into the game?
6) Will there ever be a way? Should there ever be a way? If there is no way, can we really hold kids to standardized achievement? How does this impact our training of teachers? What is the purpose of education? If no teachers teach the same, can we really expect all kids to learn
7) the same? And since there is no one way, does that then compel us to be too sure of our way and too critical of another way? Many ways. Many questions. So, then, what does that mean? I don’t know, but I think it suggests that we have to find our way, but...but we have
8)to own our way, and in that owning we have to accept the profound responsibility that our way affects the lives of the thousands we serve over the course of our careers. We should let the gravity of that guide and ground us in our search, which has to be constant and consistent
9)since no way exists. As my connections here on Twitter know, I share my way every day. And I hope it is evident that it’s not from a place of knowing but rather a place of wanting to know, a place of wanting to find my way. I tell my college kids who are just entering the ed
10) program at Eastern Washington University that I will share my current way, that I cannot share THE way, that it is their job to find their way. And I believe that. I don’t have this all figured out, and I am wary of any who claim they do. But I do know, I am certain that
11) whatever our way, it affects those we serve in ways we only partly understand, for impact lasts and lingers far beyond our brief existence with kids. In the end we all live a “way” in our classrooms. And regardless its manifestation, we should all remember the awesome
12)responsibility we have to others as we make and find our way. Sorry for the long, I hope-it-made-sense thread. #project180
