Leaders: Learning Should Not Be A Side Effect

“In medicine, a side effect is an effect, whether therapeutic or adverse, that is secondary to the one intended; although the term is predominantly employed to describe adverse effects, it can also apply to beneficial, but unintended, consequences of the use of a drug.”

Learning is defined as “the acquisition of knowledge or skills through experience, study, or by being taught.”

Teaching is defined as ” the process of attending to people’s needs, experiences and feelings, and intervening so that they learn particular things, and go beyond the given.”

Real learning, the kind that happens through what I like to call “anchor experiences.” These are the kind of experiences that evoke emotions causing students to engage deeply and connect personally with content, therefore serving as an anchor for retrieving the content and skills learned through this experience when it is needed again to aid in future learning. This type of learning has remained a side effect in many classrooms. Antiquated systems, local and fedral policies, and mandates have created incredible barriers for educators and school systems who look to create classroom environments that long to make learning more than an secondary and unintended consequence.

Let’s hear it for the educators who are so fueled by the needs and the voices of their students that they see these barriers and are determined to knock them down. They see themselves as the agents of change in their classrooms and school districts. They willingly take risks, challenge the status quo, and inspire change. They long to find a way to change the game of school from “earning” to learning.” These innovators find ways in our current situation to create real learning even when it’s hard, uncomfortable, and controversial.

Departments have been renamed from “Curriculum and Instruction” to “Teaching and Learning” to acknowledge the role districts should play to support these innovative educators in their quest to promote real learning, as opposed to “giving curriculum to kids.” Renaming departments is a first step, but ensuring these innovators have leaders who advocate, affirm, and inspire the tackling of these barriers is key to sustaining the hopefulness, passion, and vision of these dreamers.

Adorning halls, walls and websites with beliefs and goals is an easy avenue to communicate what you desire. Leaders who are living these beliefs and goals through your actions, both seen and unseen, is what fuels innovative educators to keep going because they know their risks are worth taking and will find traction even in the face of doubt.

Measuring real learning also cannot be oversimplified by leaders who place emphasis on single measures of success, such as benchmark scores or unit tests. Measuring real learning requires listening and presence. Listening to the layers of learning evidence and presence in classrooms to see the complex decisions teachers make daily, as well as the results of intentionally planned learning experiences.

These innovators need us to have their backs, to vision alongside them, and to stick our necks in the ring with them as they battle these barriers determined to make learning more than a side effect.