Quote-A-Day: Day 170

Reaching every #learner can't be just a goal. It has to be a way of life. #QuoteADay #Day170 #edchat #edu #edreform #LearningForAll

We all would agree that an aspirational goal, a goal that drives the other work we do, is to be able to reach all learners.

The “all” is key, as it isn’t just about your student learners.  Your adult learners are just as important to setting the tone and building the culture of the school.

With a goal this important, it makes sense to emphasize the fact that this “goal” in particular must be more than just “a goal.”

In reality, reaching all learners needs to be a life mantra, a cause that we strive for beyond our classroom, beyond our building, beyond our district or organization.

In everything that we do, in every way we do it, we must live by these three words:

“Reach Every Learner”

Now, what happens if even in the best of cases, we can’t quite reach every learner?

Then we must ask ourselves a series of questions:

1.        Could we reach the learner if we gave more of ourselves?

2.       Could someone else reach the learner because they bring something we don’t or cannot?

3.       Could a different set of resources (different placement, different learning materials, different daily “structure?”) help the learner be better reached?

4.       Is there something the student is trying to tell us that we aren’t hearing?

These questions are all important, as they provide an additional means to assessing why we haven’t successfully reached every learner.

Even in situations when we can’t reach all learners, asking ourselves these questions at least allows us to get some closure, and still has the potential to end up helping the situation.

There are some ideas that are larger than goals, and instead, need to be looked at as mantras for life.  The idea of reaching all learners is one that we all need to put on a pedestal.