“A catastrophe is a shared emergency that overwhelms our interactions and narratives”
Too many times, the education systems react to challenges as if they are catastrophes rather than challenges.
When this happens, we react instead of act.
I recently watched a TV show where the leader of a team kept telling them to “work the problem.” This reminds everyone to stop reacting and start acting. Look at the possibilities instead of the impossibilities.
This is important to teach my students. I want them to stop seeing every obstacle as if it is a catastrophe. When they have this mindset, I think it causes them to shut down and want to curl in a ball to protect themselves. This keeps them from moving forward.
I want my students to see each other as a teammate. When an obstacle arises, I want them to trust everyone to help them work the problem if they are unable to do it themselves. Once we understand the problem, we have them brainstorm different solutions. No idea is laughed at and all ideas are thrown out for consideration. Once all the ideas are exhausted, we can look at each one and see what the limitations or possibilities are in order to narrow it down to a possible solution.
When I first start this process, I start with a few of my own obstacles so the students understand the process. Once I can model how we do this and my students understand how helpful this is, I encourage each one to share an obstacle. The more we do this process, the easier it gets for some students to open up. They like having the support of others when we do this and sometimes others share that they have faced the same obstacle before. Some share how they handled it and how they wish they handled it differently.
This process is a very powerful strategy and has helped my students be more successful in the classroom and out of the classroom.
How do you help students face obstacles? Please share.
Photo by Tim Collins on Unsplash
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