Changes

Rock legend David Bowie passed away this week after an 18 month battle with cancer.  He broke into the limelight in 1969 with his Ziggy Stardust album and had many hits during his career. One of his biggest hits came in 1971 with  Changes. This song is about the changes that many make in their formative years and then later, as a grown-up, they make fun of the changes kids make when they try to invent or reinvent themselves even though they did the same thing themselves. The ultimate in the “pot calling the kettle black” mindset.  Change doesn’t happen at A Time; it happens Over Time.  It’s like sowing grass seed over a vacant space. You won’t be walking on a beautiful carpet of green in a day or two.  It takes time.  The shore line doesn’t erode in a day even though it is constantly occurring little by little. It takes time.  Communities grow from a vacant space to roads, stores, homes, and other buildings. It takes time.  The city of Chicago wasn’t always a sea of skyscrapers. It took time.  People don’t change their persona in a few hours; it takes time.  Change takes time. 

Like a tulip bulb planted in the fall only to be one of the first to bloom in the spring, students take time as well.  What does that mean to us?  It means that, while our expectations should remain high, our reality meter must be employed.  As you progress through the year, it will become vividly apparent that some kids progress faster academically than others.  That’s okay because we shouldn’t expect them to be the same…or do we?  The “whole class” instruction method must be coupled with small group and even one on one instruction.  Just because a student doesn’t get it on day one of a presentation of new material, don’t lose heart.  The task for you is not to let that small fissure grow into a huge skill or conceptual gap.  That is where the beauty of our schedule comes in.  Our RtI period is one of the best things that we created here.  It gives us a chance, an opportunity, to capture kids DURING the school day for remediation that is current and on the spot.  It also gives us that same opportunity to accelerate those kids who not only “get” what you are teaching, they are ready to take it much farther.  We have to be honest enough and courageous enough to move them forward.  I have said and written many times to make the most of every  opportunity.  That’s all these days are folks – opportunities.  You need to choose what you are going to do with them.  Be that catalyst that causes change for your students over time.