Circumstances: A Slippery Path to Independent Thinking

The most creative and innovative ideas come from struggle. Challenging experiences lead us to find a new way of thinking in order to discover imaginative solutions. Circumstances may be out of our control, especially as children. But, they may also be self-created out of doubt, fear, and insecurities. Where we live, our outlook on education, our prior experiences all play a role in our circumstances. This sphere can be far reaching or it can cling to us directly. Our highway can be slippery, but if we have good tread the pavement will become more stable. As a teacher, we need to pave the road for our students, light the street lamps, add a cross-walk with a crossing guard, even a stop light to prevent misconceptions and road hazards. How do we set up a classroom in order to keep traffic flowing but also allow for lane changes, u-turns, even parallel parking? 

We need to teach students, like a skid on an icy road, steer into the skid. Recognize the situation and accept it head on rather than try to avoid it. If we slam on the brakes, deny or ignore our circumstances, the wheels may lock, propelling the us forward out of control. To overcome circumstances that are out of our control we need to take a breath and understand why we are facing these challenges and what is in our control. What can we do, on our own to redirect our vehicle, to get our tires aligned and back on the road. For it is the road that leads us to keep a growth mindset or lose our way and become fixed. It is the road signs that direct us forward, providing choice of destination. It is the off-ramps of the busy interstate that allows us to slow and take meaningful adventures.

A new way of thinking puts things in perspective. A new connection is made and new circumstances are formed. Small or large, subtle or life-changing it doesn't matter because every forward-thinking, innovate, progressive, open-minded thought we have lays the concrete for more roads, trails, and highways. Like neurons transfer the electrical signals through out our bodies, these thoroughfares we traverse carry our circumstances, transport our histories, lay the foundation for our futures. We need to accept that our circumstances are the road blocks, obstacles, and barriers that lie in the road. It is imperative that we not avoid them but climb and conquer them. This way, they are are not chasms that swallow us but a down ward motion that propels us forward. 

Circumstances are a part of life. Unavoidable situations, joyous occasions, tragedy, comedy, mystery, but all experience. It can be a large pothole or even a multi-car pile up, but when we see the end of the tunnel, when people around us believe in us, come to our aid, we can see that circumstances change. A new type of thinking, one that can be encouraged in the classroom, positive, enlightened, and accepting can help students over come these circumstances. In the classroom, student voice quiet or loud needs an audience. Argumentation, debate, student-led discussions give students a voice, confidence, and choice. It creates a new way of thinking, not feeling like a student but a participant in their own learning, the creator of their destiny, conqueror of circumstance.The driver of their own vehicle, the designer of their learning and growth.