How Choosing One Thing on Which to Focus, Makes the Rest Fall into Place

by Susan Hitt

As educators, we are often our harshest critics. We hold ourselves up to the "Pinterest-teacher" standard where classrooms are perfectly decorated and there is never an item askew. But we all know learning is messy. Teaching is messy. From uncapped highlighters rolling around to a whiteboard covered in 30 different handwritings, we know evidence of learning is not "picture perfect." But that's okay. In fact, that's what we as educators embrace. We have to learn to pick and choose where we want our focus to lay, and I, for one, long ago gave up on the idea of perfection. 


But we still need a focus for ourselves, and when perfection is taken out of the picture, what does that leave? A few years ago, I was encouraged to choose my "one thing." The one thing that if I put all my energy into achieving, everything else would fall into place. My mind was spinning on overdrive--I could only pick one thing? But so many things were important to me, how could I narrow it down to just one?  My mind raced from students to curriculum, to professional development, to networking, to blended learning, to pretty much any educational topic you can imagine. Just as soon as I thought I had narrowed it down to one, I would think of something else. This seemingly simple task quickly turned overwhelming. 

So I made myself stop. I cleared my mind and went back to the original idea, what one thing could I focus on that if I gave it my attention, all other things would fall into place. So what was my "one" thing, you might be wondering? Collaboration. You see, at that point in my career, I had just left the classroom after 10 years of teaching high school English and was venturing into my new career as a district lead English teacher. I had been on the instructional team for a mere six months when I was encouraged to pick one thing on which to focus. 

At it's most basic definition, collaboration is the action of working with someone to produce or create something. 

How could I bring together all the high school English teachers so that they would collaborate as a district unit? I was in the unique position that I knew all the engaging things teacher A was doing at School A and the unique things teacher B was doing at school B, but how could I get them go outside the four walls of their classroom to share? Teachers by trade are often humble and shy away from highlighting what they're doing. I've found that it's not because they don't want to share, it's because they feel like if they're doing it, then everyone else is, too. That is often not the case. 

So I had my one thing decided upon, but what did I do next? How could I provide a platform to encourage teachers to collaborate across the district? I started small. First, I created a district ELA hashtag for teachers who were on Twitter to share ideas and lessons. I hosted a networking hour for new ELA teachers from all the high schools to meet-n-greet with other ELA teachers. I brought teachers together for professional development opportunities and encouraged them to get to know one another and share contact information. I even had a district December holiday meeting where I forwent the normal agenda and asked everyone to share their favorite lesson with the others--and I brought cake, because well, it's cake and cake makes people happy!  And finally about ten months ago, I had this hairbrained idea of starting a blog. Education Celebration is meant to do just that. Celebrate all the wonderful things going on in the ELA teachers' classrooms in our school district. My hope is that when one teacher shares out a unique, impactful lesson, that other teachers will reach out to that teacher to collaborate. To share and discuss. 

As Helen Keller said, "Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much."

We all know teachers have an insanely hard job. A teacher's job begins well before the students enter the classroom and runs long after students have left the classroom. In my mind, collaboration is the key to helping teachers manage their time. Teacher A has a great lesson, Teacher B has a great lesson. They share and their lesson base grows! It's as simple as that. So finding a platform in which to get teachers to share is where I see my role. Thus, collaboration became my "one" thing. Featured on EducationCelebrationELA.blogspot.com

I write this post not to just share my one thing with you, but to encourage you to pick your "one thing." But be warned, it's not enough to simply identify it.  To see it come to fruition, to see the impacts, you have to roll up your sleeves and dive head first into it.  When I was encouraged to choose my one thing, I was also encouraged to set aside time each week to work on and reflect on that one thing. Each week, I needed to do one small task that worked toward encouraging collaboration across the district, and whether that was small or large it kept me focused. 

So whether you choose student engagement, student feedback, digital tools, professional learning network,  blended learning, formative assessment, whatever your focus may be, identify it and find time weekly for reflection. I'd love for you to share your "one" thing in the comment section!