PLC At Work Institute: Day 1

 First thing this morning, I was assaulted.  Before I get a million e-mails and concerned phone calls checking on my well-being, I should clarify.  Have you ever had one of those moments where someone said something that completely caught you off guard and made you stop everything in its tracks, so you could ponder what they just said?  It happened to me this morning.  I was assaulted by a quote.  It snuck up behind me and caught me completely off guard.

"Good is the enemy of great." -Collins, 2001.

I'm guessing you weren't expecting something so simple. And yet, one slide into his presentation, Jack Baldermann made me stop and take stock of how those words apply to me in my professional life. Everything about those six simple words convicts me. I'm certain that it convicts many other educators out there as well. How many times have we used "good" as an excuse?

"I'm good at what I do."
"I get good results."
"It's good enough"

There are so many other "goods" out there.  The truth is that these "goods" are what hold us back as educators from being great.  We fall back on "good" instead of saying "I need to be great."  Let's be honest.  Don't our students deserve great?  Would we want our own children in the classrooms of teachers that strive for "good"?  Think about it.  Should we be walking around and saying, "It's okay. That teacher tried really hard to be good"?

 I would contend that as educators we should be appalled with this practice.  When did "good" become the end goal of education?  We should be striving to be great. And, no... I don't mean we should strive for great test scores. I mean we should really dig down deep and do what is best for kids. We are charged with helping and guiding them so that they LEARN.  So, shouldn't that be our benchmark?  Shouldn't we be asking, "What should they learn?" and "How can I make for sure they ALL learn it?"  Can't we change our dialogue from "I'm good at what I do" into "I'm good, but what can I do to make myself great and how can you help me get there?"  If we aren't capable of making that shift in our thinking, then we will always be "good" and never get to the GREAT our students deserve!