Best-Practice and Dissonance

This week's post comes from Lisa Lederach, the principal at Cumberland Road Elementary School.  Originally, she wrote this entry to share with the teachers at her school, but her words may resonate with you as well.

From Lisa: I Don't Want to Learn This!

Conversations around HSE21 Best Practices often cause dissonance. Dissonance is unsettling. It is uncomfortable. It doesn't always feel good. Yet we know that learning often involves dissonance as one takes on new ideas and learning.

Steve Loser, one of the assistant principals at FHS, says, "Education should always be supported discomfort." I agree.

There have been many things with my kids that make me say, "I DON"T WANT TO LEARN THIS!" One of those has to do with American Sign Language. I don't want to have to continue to learn American Sign Language. It's so much harder than I thought. I feel stupid when I have to sign in front of people who are deaf. I hate making so many mistakes. I am completely out of my comfort zone. 

Isn't there a faster way to learn this than having to actually work at it?"

I get frustrated and anxious. I avoid going to Deaf Community events because I don't want to feel this dissonance. Yet I know that I need to continue to learn ASL because deeper conversations with my girls depend on it.

So what do I do with this dissonance? What will make it go away? The obvious thing is to put myself out there and continue to learn. Until I know as much sign language as I can, I'm always going to feel this dissonance, this discomfort.

An Example

I took my daughter Grace to a therapy appointment last week. We were saying good-bye to one therapist, Bethany, and hello to a new therapist, Naomi. Therapy sessions are not for the faint of heart, so I am always incredibly relieved to have an interpreter present. You can already guess the next part of the story. Yes, no interpreter showed up for this very important passing of the baton from one therapist to the next.

My heart sank. I could feel my breathing change, and I knew I was going to have to be the one totally in control of expressing myself in ASL. Talk about discomfort. Maybe a better way to think about it is "way out of my comfort zone."

People in the Deaf community are incredibly kind if you put your best foot forward and simply try. They are gracious, they are forgiving, and they honor the intentions behind the mistakes. So I plunged in and spent 45 minutes in an English free environment as we all talked about Grace, her goals, her progress, and therapy plan. There were actually times when I didn't even think about the fact that I was signing.

And mistakes? I made so many, but I gutted through them, identified that I was making mistakes, and just kept going. These 45 minutes were too precious to waste being afraid I might mess up.

The baton was passed, Grace left with a smile, and I said good-bye to Bethany and Naomi.

HSE21 Best-Practice

The dissonance of HSE21 Best-Practice probably won't go away for a very long time, just like my discomfort with American Sign Language won't go away for a very long time. Learning ASL is a lifetime commitment for me. Supporting HSE21 Best Practice is a career life commitment for me.

Live in the dissonance. Know you are not alone.  We all feel discomfort and work to find our way through the HSE21 Best Practice maze. It helps to think about it as a five-year journey, so extend grace to yourself and others. Don't waste precious time being afraid you'll mess up.

We are running a marathon, not a sprint, and the baton passing is done by a team, not alone.

Respond to Lisa at llederach@hse.k12.in.us






We hope you had a good Fall Break and have a great week, HSE.

Your HSE Teaching and Learning Team

• Jan Combs, Assistant Superintendent of Teaching and Learning
• Stephanie Loane, Director of Elementary Education
• Tom Bell, Director of Special Education
• Jeff Harrison, Director of Educational Technology
• Phil Lederach, Director of Secondary Education