I just read a terrific blog post by Jon Harper, and I'm probably not going to do it justice here, so I recommend readers to visit Mr. Harper's October 20 entry to read the whole thing. He writes: It is important to measure how effective or impactful our work is—in the classroom and out. But measuring takes time. Time that could be used doing other things. Like creating and thinking and working. Getting sucked into the measuring trap is very easy. Yet, what do we gain by measuring so often? Oftentimes a false sense of pride or unwarranted dejection. |
Whatever it is I’m doing, I know I am at my best and I feel best, when I am planting seeds. Here’s the cool thing that happens when you spend your time focused on planting seeds instead of measuring vines; sprouts pop up all the time. When you are not even expecting them. Of course, everything you plant doesn’t flourish or even grow for that matter.
You are always looking for ways to become a better teacher. You read teacher-books while your friends read the fun-books. You attend conferences hours away from home. You take classes that are supposed to help you better meet the needs of your students.
And yet you can’t figure out why your evaluations always come out the same. Your students still struggle on the state assessments. And you don’t feel as if you are any better for all the effort you put in.
Keep planting seeds.
Harper acknowledges:
And so, I keep planting seeds. Do I stop to measure sometimes? Absolutely. But only for a moment. Because I have seeds to plant. Every day.