Strand 6 TBTS: Navigation: flexibility and adaptability

Navigation: Flexibility and Adaptability Thinking Behind the Strand

Reads and interprets multiple contexts in which teaching can be situated (e.g., classroom, grade level, department, school, community) in ways that are responsive to local situations and needs.

On any given day and throughout a school year, teachers navigate multiple contexts and situations. At times moving across these varied situations feels natural, as expectations are seemingly clear. Other times, we face situations rife with complexities—moving from one school to another, each with its own communities, students, and professional topographies (sometimes within a single day!); accepting a new student added to a class weeks after the school year starts; or even the daily engagement with a single student with whom we struggle to connect can feel terribly complex at times. It takes time to get our bearings; to familiarize ourselves with the personal and political forces at play; to unpack, recognize, and reconcile our own expectations as well as the expectations others hold of us. As teachers, we must navigate across these spaces in ways that are responsive to the needs of our students and support teaching and learning, draw on a flexible mindset for problem-solving, and be adaptable in our ongoing inquiries while we learn and engage with others.

Navigating complexity

“When I’m in my classroom, when the door is closed and it’s just us and we’re doing our thing, I feel like we’re working. But then I sit in a meeting and it’s ‘data cycles this’ and ‘test-readiness that’ and I can’t figure out how to say ‘Look—the stuff that matters isn’t always on that test.’ We’re missing what matters and I can see it when my kids shut down. I’m on a renewable contract as it is and I don’t know what happens if I do say something. I’m not sure whose job it is to say all that.”

Teaching asks us to navigate a number of layered and intersecting worlds—our classrooms, our school as an organization, neighborhoods, larger socio-political contexts, the demands and expectations of school and district policies, the desires and expectations of students and their families, pedagogical approaches that can conflict with one another, curriculum that we must choose or that which is mandated and may only represent a portion of our students’ best learning potential, as well as discipline schemes and protocols that may require conformity. These ‘worlds’ sometimes co-exist in harmony, but more often we may find ourselves at intersections that are in conflict or that are difficult to reconcile. For example, how do I simultaneously pay attention to student achievement when the required curriculum is not meeting my students’ learning needs; how do I actively collaborate with my grade level team when the school schedule does not allow enough time for us to talk and plan together; or how do I assert a teaching presence that sets high expectations yet respectful of the fact that I do not share my students’ lived experiences? We must sift, prioritize, differentiate, show creativity and initiative, and be responsive and adaptive. Such navigation can be an arduous task. Not having the navigational skills and resources to move through this complexity can lead to feelings of personal and professional failure, which can negatively impact our students’ learning experiences. However, when we “find our compass” we can begin to synthesize how multiple dispositions, pedagogical skills, and knowledge of disciplines, schools, and society can help us make our way (with others) through these shifting and layered contexts.

Finding and following your compass

Once we recognize the multiple influences on teaching and learning, we can begin to see the educational terrain that we must navigate. We ask ourselves, where am I going, what am I seeking, how do I know how to get there? It may be that do not have a specific destination in mind, but that we want to continue moving toward a particular horizon—one shaped by social justice, one that holds equity as a virtue, one that allows all students to be their authentic selves and to thrive as humans as well as academic achievers. Our compass for navigating toward this horizon, toward our chosen destination(s), must be created and shaped. Our best resources for developing our compass are youth, parents, and community desires; the insights and support from colleagues and mentors; and the theory and big ideas that we have learned during preparation and continue to learn through our professional reading and collaboration.

Finding and shaping our compass requires that, as teachers, we do more than wait for opportunities to learn about the complex experiences of our students; we must learn to actively pursue and create these opportunities. By doing so, we meet our students where they are, invite and engage them, and work together with adults and young people toward greater equity in schools. We must also be wary of trying to navigate complex terrains isolation. Finding like-minded people in our schools and communities, drawing on the wisdom and experiences of those who have navigated similar situations, and standing together with those whose approaches and expectations for equity align with your own are all ways to find and follow your compass.

Sometimes, what matters most to students and parents does not align with what teachers and schools are told must matter based on district, state, and national disciplinary standards and policies. As an educator we must navigate both the education policy expectations that are set up to guide the entire school system and our local understandings of what might be best for our students at this particular time. We need to figure out when to align ourselves directly with policies, when to adjust and adapt using our local knowledge and experience, how to defend our decisions professionally, and when we need to proactively resist in order to support our students and stand in solidarity with the local communities. We must assess the risks we face when we contemplate our choices, and determine our willingness to take those risks. Some choices can make us stand out as award-winning teachers and other choices can create political difficulty for us with colleagues or administration. Regardless of how we navigate, we will need to be able to stand behind our choices, to know where our compass is directing us, and to know when we have veered off course.