Changes and Constraint

Change is uncomfortable, constraints are limiting…

but both can lead to amazing things.

‘James [Brown] didn’t use a lot of the stage; he used a little small spot, and Mick learned that he was an expert at it.” – Keith Richards

Changes & Constraint – The Upside of Uncertainty and Restrictions.

David Bowie sang, ‘Times may change me, but I can’t change time.’ We’ve been through some pretty big changes in our collective past, but let’s face it, the past year has been like no other.  We’re witnessing transformational forces are at play in the global education arena – some certainly hastened on account of COVID. For example, unlike the pandemic 1919, the digital technology at our fingertips allowed us to reach down the hall, across the street, and around the world… to connect, communicate, learn. Education has mutated as of late, and there may be no going back.

This past year could be called the ‘you can’t do that year’, and we’re all growing weary of it. Who didn’t reach their wits end longing to do things the way ‘we’ve always done them’? Here too we might take a page from a rocker – Mick Jagger. Apparently, the small stages of the Rolling Stones’ early days are to thank for his unique dancing style. Perhaps Jagger epitomizes the adage, ‘creativity loves constraint’. Anyone working with students during COVID knows, endless restrictions caused us to reach for a little more creativity…new ways of doing.

As we are seeing light at the end of the tunnel,  let’s be mindful that changes and constraints can be forces for good. In this optimistic keynote, Myron will argue that instruction and assessments that include inquiry, differentiation, exploration and problem solving may continue to help us adapt in a crunch – whatever that might look like.