New Things

As an American History teacher, I remember my lessons on the British invasion of America. When we hear that we think of early wars in our country's infancy. While I liked teaching that, my favorite British invasion was the musical one of the 1950s and 1960s. I love the Beatles and I love how changes in American and world culture can be tracked through their changes in musical style. A few boys from Liverpool started a revolution in culture and American thought using music. As much as I appreciate their music and the ever-evolving style, I also like their story. The world watched these young men grow up and change and it was this change that eventually led to their end. Some blame the influence of John Lennon's girlfriend, Yoko Ono, on the breakup, but true fans could see it coming back in 1968 (almost two years before they officially separated). The Beatles were changing and they were trying new things. Those things just didn't exactly move in the same direction anymore. Their evolution was moving them somewhere different.

Back in the fall semester, I sent an email to our math department urging them to try new things. I am certain that behind my back, I got some remarks or criticism. If I had received that email from my principal I would have done the same. The email simply said that they were working far too hard to be getting mediocre scores in Math 1. I didn't have a simple answer for what they should be doing, but I knew that it was time to try new things. This led to somewhat of an evolution. Our four Math 1 teachers took a field trip to see what math looks like in elementary schools. We observed math centers and guided small groups. We examined math software for K-8 students and how it is used. Then with some help from Mr. Shaw, the Math 1 teachers left the ways of traditional 9-12 math teaching and made a decision to try new things. They started this semester teaching every day through "rotations" (they are really centers). It's only been a few days, but I can tell you that it is the most engagement I have ever seen from 9th grade students. There have been a lot of visitors to these classes this week to see how it works and I have no doubt that there will be many more throughout the year.

My dad had a saying that I must have heard a hundred times growing up. "If you always do, what you've always done, you'll always get what you've always had." If you feel like you're working as hard as you can and getting the same results, maybe it's time to break away and try new things. I think Sir Paul McCartney would agree that it can work in your favor.