It’s the final week of the school year, which is always bittersweet. While there’s so much to celebrate, endings and farewells signal change, and we, as humans, tend to find comfort in our daily rituals and routines. But change is inevitable.
When I was in college, one of my dear mentors and dance professors, Dr. Nancy Spanier, had a quote on her door: Change is inevitable. Growth is optional. When I was an elementary classroom teacher, I turned this quote into a large wall graphic using colorful paper, spray adhesive, and cardboard. It was a fixture in my classroom. It even survived a move from Colorado to California between my 6th and 7th year of teaching. Clearly, this quote stuck with me, and as I reflect upon why, I believe it is because it epitomizes a key aspect of teaching and learning. As teachers and learners, we’re all about growth and development.
Change and growth are not synonymous. While change is something that occurs naturally in all living things, growth requires intention and social interaction. As educational psychologist, Lev Vygotsky, says:
“[…] human learning presupposes a specific social nature and a process by which children grow into the intellectual life of those around them (Mind in Society, 1978, p. 88).”
In the midst of growth, there’s often a sense of struggle. Growth, for most of us, is not a comfortable process. Growth requires we move through our zone of proximal development, which is “the distance between the actual development level as determined by independent problem solving and the level of potential development as determined through problem solving under adult guidance or in collaboration with more capable peers (Vygotsky, 1978, p.86).” In other words, we grow into our potential via some form of social mediation (e.g., modeling, conversation, feedback).
So with the end of the school year upon us, as we all move through the change of seasons and from the end of one school year to the beginning of summer and the eve of the next school year, may we recognize this change as an opportunity for growth. Through reflecting upon where we were a year ago and where we are now – and how we got here – we can identify they ways in which we’ve grown, the skills we’ve developed, the knowledge we’ve built, the new perspectives and ways of being we’ve cultivated. Such reflection yields insights into what we’re capable of, if we’re willing to move through productive struggle, and the importance of the people around us – peers, teachers, parents, family members – who mediate our growth and help make learning possible.
I’m filled with gratitude for another school year, which has brought about both change and growth, and I look forward to the journey ahead for there is always more growth on the horizon.