Today, like everyday, I saw an interesting article shared on one of the many teaching Facebook groups I belong to. Usually, I just save it and say "I'll read that later" and never do (the life of a teacher). But today, after skimming the first paragraph, something caught my attention, so I read the whole thing. Amazing eh?
The article, HERE, discusses how as teachers, we often work extremely hard to get things right, yet we never ask ourselves if those things are the right thing to do. The author, Will Richardson, talks about another great mind, Russell Ackoff, who was able to explain that even if we do the wrong things and do them well, we're doing a worse job that if we do them poorly. He said that it's more important to do the right things wrong than to spend all our time trying to perfect the wrong things.
And why does he say we do the wrong things? Because it's easier. I'm not so sure about this part of the article/argument, but I'm fully in agreement about trying to do the right things even if it's not perfect. Perhaps we do the wrong things because that's what we've always done (TTWAD is a popular acronym I believe) and that's what we were told.
I don't like to be told what to do. Ask anyone who's tried to do so. I don't listen. I see a good idea, I roll with it. So this speaks quite true to me. Am I doing things perfectly? Heck no! Am I trying to do the right thing by my students? For sure! If I make mistakes along the way, it's better that they get pushed in the right direction poorly than I push them super hard in the wrong direction.
Here's hoping I can stay true to my word (after a long day of planning, I feel that I'm trying to do the right things - though no doubt I'm doing it wrong). And maybe if I get some free time, I'll watch the video in the article.
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