Can You Ride a Bicycle?

I'm going to venture a guess that all of you reading this have learned to ride a bike. Countless hours and multiple attempts went into learning how to balance your weight, how to shift the handle bars, and how to brace yourself for the fall. And while hopefully we all learned through these failures to persist and keep plugging away, we may not have been aware of the neurological connections we were making.

The phrase 'it's just like riding a bike' took on a new meaning for today after viewing the video below, AND attempting to ride this bike myself.




You can only imagine how trying to ride this bike myself has completely changed my perspective on CHANGE! While I've always been aware that change is easier for some and more difficult for others, I never made the connection in the relationship between your brain and change. As individuals, we have taken years to master our craft or expertise. Yet, some leaders want us to change our thought process or actions over night. What they may not realize is that our brains are wired in such a way that we struggle to understand the change and how this will improve what we are doing.

Where this video really hit home for me is though the interactions I might have with students. We all have the opportunity to work with and mentor learners that have a wide variety of backgrounds.Many learners come with predisposed notions and beliefs about themselves. Whether it be parents, previous teachers, or friends, learners have been 'hard-wired' to navigate life according to these beliefs. As educators, we are not only tasked to teach them content, but also perhaps help them to 're-learn' who they are and what they are capable of.

And what the movie proved to me is that I must be patient in my working with learners. While I may want to move fast and have accepted changes, some learners have some 'un-wiring' to do to learn. My role is to continue to be supportive of them, their efforts, and the growth they are making. Each learner deserves the time they need to grow - after all growth is movement forward no matter how big or small.

I recently started reading 'The Leadership Challenge' by James Kouzes and Barry Posner. Although I'm a mere thirty pages in so far and very inspired to learn more about The Five Practices to Exemplary Leadership - Model the Way, Inspire a Shared Vision, Challenge the Process, Enable others to Act, and Encourage the Heart. These five practices must shape how we continue to evolve what education is really about. We cannot impact the brain without first impacting the heart.

Each one of us is capable of impacting our learners. Continue to inspire and model the way in what you do and how you interact with your learners. Help them to unlock the potential that exists within themselves. And remember that many already learned how to 'ride their bike!'

Yes Waiting to Happen

The dog days of summer are upon us. High school sports practices are in full swing. College dorms are beginning to fill up. School supplies rule the entrances to our favorite stores. Children are restless with anticipation of the first day of school. Across college campuses, faculty and staff begin to prepare for the new semester. Regardless of what level of education you teach at, your preparation and planning have surely started prior to your first official day back! As the new school starts, we must all be reminded how pivotal of a role we play in our communities, our schools, our students' lives, and our very own futures.

Over the last several days my college has kicked off the new semester with our 'Success 1st Summit' fall in-service. Our college president talked about having purpose, potential, and play as keys to staying motivated at work. Our keynote speaker, Genyne Edwards, JD, gave an excellent message about the key to charting a vision of persistence "starts with YOU - you are the one you've been waiting for!" Through this time, I've sat back and pondered how can anyone working in education prepare for the new school year? What message do we all need to hear?

For some reason, my mind keeps coming back to one main theme - CONNECTIONS! As human beings, we long to be connected to others...our teachers, our colleagues, our friends...we desire to know that we matter in the lives of others. Education is no different - perhaps connections are even far more important!

Working at a technical college, our students come from a wide variety of backgrounds with a wide variety of skills. Yet, the students that succeed and persist to graduate will all tell you they had a mentor that believed in them and their potential to succeed. Each and every graduate was connected to someone at the college that pushed them, encouraged them, believed in them, and dared them to be great!

Here's my challenge to anyone working in education as you start the new year. Ask yourself what are you going to do to connect with students? What are you going to do to support the student that doesn't believe in themselves? How can you encourage the doubter? How will you be their yes waiting to happen?

As author and speaker Angela Maiers so passionately believes, "You Matter". Every student needs to not only believe they matter, they must feel like they matter to someone. You have the potential to help a student believe they matter...are you up for the challenge?