It is also a vulnerable word. And vulnerability can be a scary thing as a teacher.
I have been in three classes over the last couple weeks where teachers talked about something they were trying. Each time, the word really stood out.
In one class the teacher said she was “trying something new with how I organize students in groups.” In another the teacher said he was “going to try using Google Docs to have students share their work.” In a third the teacher said she was “trying to include more Indigenous ideas in her math class.”
Try implies uncertainty. All three of these teachers were unsure how it would go, it was a bit of an experiment, it was their own inquiry just like their students were doing. The teachers, in all their vulnerability were modeling lifelong learning. They were trying things, some would work, others won’t, and they will refine and try again. You can call it a design cycle or an inquiry model but I think of it as culture. This is exactly the culture that I want us to continue to have.
I want us to have a culture of trying stuff. We want our students to be fearless learners, so to for the adults that work with them.
Try.
It is such a great word.
Thank you for elaborating on the word ‘try’. In my work with teachers and students, my favourite word is ‘yet’.
Yet is another awesome word!
Hey Pal,
I totally dig that you recognize the importance of “creating a culture of trying stuff.” It’s true that trying implies vulnerability — and for many teachers, being vulnerable is hard to pull off.
I’d LOVE it if you’d write a bit sometime detailing the steps that you take as a leader to make trying safer for your teachers.
I think a lot of leaders would agree with you that a key leadership task in today’s educational environment is to create environments where risk taking by teachers is the norm — I’m just not sure that many of the leaders that I work with would have any real idea how to make that happen.
Anyway — I dug this.
Rock on,
Bill
Try is a great word indeed! And I’m with you Bill on a sequel to this post that shares insight on creating an environment where teachers (et al) feel they can try new things, take risks and feel supported along the way.