I’ve got to tell you, this week’s class spoke to me in a very big way.
This year I am very fortunate to be a Learning Facilitator with my school division. With this role, I can learn more than ever by being in many different classrooms with many different teachers. I’ve been participating in various Professional Development courses along with this one, and have been researching best practices to support our teachers in the ways that they need.
The abundance of learning has been both a massive blessing and a massive challenge. I love learning new things and trying new practices but have also felt very overwhelmed to the point of paralysis. I find myself unable to focus on just one area at a time and have been trying to work on time management to keep things in order in my brain.
As frustrating and difficult as it has been to get back on track, it has helped me empathize with both students and teachers who feel incredibly overwhelmed by the abundance. So, as I said, when Dave Cormier spoke to our class about learning in a time of abundance, I found myself adding his book and his blog to my already abundant list of professional reading that I have been very successfully putting off.
For this post, I want to explore WHY, for the first time in my life, I seem to be experiencing some sort of task paralysis.
Let’s back it up…
I truly have never stopped to think about how access to information has changed over thousands of years. Dave reminded us that books and scribes used to be incredibly labour-intensive to create, and for that reason, very difficult to come by. This is why a need for the catechetical process of teaching, which we see happen in the church all the time. The teacher states something and the congregation (who all have to be together in the same space to hear) will repeat these things back. Because only the teacher had the text, it required those gathered together to memorize to learn things. This is how things were taught in schools.
As information became more available as a result of the printing press, students still learned from their teachers as well as from books. We would go to the library to find books to perform research and learn about topics, being led by our teachers. Dave shared that schools were designed to solve the problem of information scarcity… so what does that mean in a time of information abundance?
I’m part of the generation that experienced schooling both with and without the internet. I remember the excitement of being able to hop online to chat with my friends, download music, and ask any question I wanted the answer to. When someone asks me a question I’m unsure of, my first instinct is to pull out my phone and google it. Access to information is such an amazing gift, but as we know, too much of anything isn’t always good.
Coming back to University 10 years after I finished my Bachelor of Education degree, I’m finding it so much more challenging to focus in general… and it’s not just because I’m working a full-time job this time around. I am finding myself searching instead of researching because my brain always seems to have 50 tabs open. Even as I sit down to write this, I have a movie on because doing one task at a time just doesn’t seem like enough…
If I’m overwhelmed as someone who has been working in education for over ten years, how must our new teachers feel when they have so many options and so much information when planning their units and lessons. Josh made a great point that student engagement seems to mirror teacher engagement… but how engaged with students be if the teachers are also feeling frozen with too much information? How can I effectively support them?
I don’t remember if it was mentioned by Dave or Dean, but it was said that curriculum leaders should find just one or two things that teachers can use and avoid loading them up with too many ideas; this is something that I’m working to focus on. It’s my job to take what teachers are asking for and filter out that abundance into something more manageable.
I’m curious, how does everyone manage to balance the massive amount of information that we are receiving in education today? Have you found yourself paralyzed by having too much on the go?
I, too, have that frozen feeling when faced with the massive amount of information given to us. Between trying to balance the ‘new’ reading and writing strategies, rethinking how we are teaching math, overhauling the way we assess and revamping our assessment practices, to not forgetting about those other subjects as well… It can be A LOT. It feels like each department at the division office has found these new and exciting teaching methods or new resources and it all gets thrown at us at once. I have been mentoring one of our newer teachers (also what a way to make you feel old – when you finally become the ‘mentor’) and this is one of their biggest struggles… balancing it all.
I think it’s easy to say “just don’t worry about it all” but we know that isn’t an actual solution for most. I always try to break things down to groups of 3 – what are 3 changes I can make over 3 months? I focus on those strategies or goals and then reevaluate – can I move on to adding new goals? Do I need to keep practicing or researching these goals?
That’s a great philosophy and practice, Kathleen! I’m going to have to give that a try… thank you 🙂
I loved this post Jenni! It connected we me personally. I have done a lot of reading about ADHD in the last few years as both my child, and I, have been diagnosed and medicated for it. This abundance of information and way of life can contribute to some of the symptoms. Hyperfocusing on things is a symptom of ADHD, task paralysis is another, both of which are exacerbated by access to technology and information. Could this be one of the reasons for the increase in ADHD diagnoses and medications? I choose to believe (confirmation bias) that because we know better, we do better. Instead of trying to parent our kids out of having ADHD we know them enough to know that the excessive talking, or impulsive behaviors, or overreactions are not just them being bad. Just my thoughts for today!
Hot out of the oven and right into your mo…ouch! I think I got burned. Much like freshly baked pastry, and as Kathleen commented, division and district leaders are eager to feed the teachers the freshest of strategies, policies, and practices but often forget to pause, reflect (or let the pastry cool), and then decide how or if the latest craze fits the needs of our teachers/students.
On my most cynical days, I think it is a means to justify their fancy corner office with daylight while I waste away in the LEDs of the gym. Of course, it is probably closer to trying to find ways to support teachers voicing their concerns, while also kind of feeling helpless.
Every night I go to bed thinking about this class, my PE class and my family – at least I think they are my family, they look vaguely familiar. I too find myself unable to focus on one task and can be stricken with analysis paralysis as I try to decide where to start.
I don’t know if I do manage it – I have to get my Wellness 10 ski trip organized….
Is this a bad time to mention where my office is located?
I agree with your view… I think that it’s important our curriculum leaders wait and feel things out before throwing them to teachers!
I totally understand where you’re coming from. I’ve noticed that when I try to juggle too much information, it ends up overwhelming me and I don’t get much done. But when I focus on one thing at a time, I find out I’m much more productive. I think the same applies to teachers. Instead of bombarding them with too many ideas and responsibilities, involving them in the process and understanding what works for them is a better approach. This not only helps reduce the overwhelm but also encourages greater engagement. Personally, I have a very low tolerance for information overload, as it just puts too much pressure on my brain and leads to feeling stuck. Your post really resonated with me, and I think finding a balance is key to fostering productivity and engagement for both teachers and students.
Thanks for the reply, Haneefat! I’m really doing my best to start with asking teachers what they need to feel more empowered and what they want to try, and then building off of that. Teaching is not for the faint of heart… my goal is to help make it a little less overwhelming for everyone that I work with.
I’m so happy to hear that I’m not the only one that feels frozen by the abundance!