- Learning is messy. Ever wonder why learners act the way they do during activities? Learning is messy...maybe they don't understand how to do what you're asking. Maybe they just want the end result. Maybe they just want structure. Maybe they've been spoonfed. Maybe, just maybe, they're like me and take longer to process something and later that day or even the next morning, they'll have their AHA moment and understand what to do and how to accomplish it.
- Everyone is a learner...even the adults! Have you ever been to a PD training session and wondered why the adults were worse than your students or were working with your team and realized that you have just a difficult person in the group? We forget that adults are learners too with similar needs as the kids. They'll get frustrated, bored, upset, difficult, stressed, etc and will act - like me - just like the kids!
- Maybe, I need to remember that teachers, administrators - well really all of us adult-types - are learners too. I need to treat the adult learners around me in a similar manner to the kids I work with. They think learning is messy and frustrating too. They need time to process, adjust, and figure out how to work through the "projects" they are given. They may be difficult, frustrated, and stressed, and I need to not take that to heart so much. It may have everything to do with me, or it may have nothing to do with me...it's just the process!
In the end, am I going to stop asking learners, kids or adults, to do "messy learning"? Of course not, because messy learning is one of the best places to go deeper, reflect, and learn so much more than simply "sit and git" teaching. I just have to give myself and others more grace in the moment!
