Confusion and Smartness

Teach Caffinated

I heard an interesting quote last week, and I want to share it with you because when I read it, I thought of you.  It's a little bit long, but read the whole thing a few times and see how it hits you. 

“Many students believe, often based on their experiences in school, that already knowing rather than being confused or wondering is the only thing of value in an academic setting.  Students come to believe that knowledge about something is acquired whole: you either have it or you don’t.  Teachers have the important job of turning this intellectually crippling misconception around, so that students understand that confusion is the perfect starting place for learning (Schoenbach, Greenleaf, & Murphy).” 

I spent an (embarrassingly) large portion of my college life trying to prove to everyone that I knew things.  Wanting people to see me as smart or important or like I "know stuff" has continued to be a kind of hobby of mine since graduating.  Sometimes, I have even been really confused about things that I should do for work, but I haven't asked questions because I didn't want to look like I "didn't know what I was doing."  The quote above really challenges me because I love learning, but I have actually been the person limiting my own learning.  When I ask questions, when I let my foggy confusion be the guide for my education or my life, I actually have a capacity to learn more than the others around me.  

I'll say it again in simpler terms:  trying to look smart stops you from becoming smart.  

Wow.  

I want you to imagine a little cute "cloud of confusion" character.  He's always been there with you in school.  He's the one saying, "raise your hand and ask that question!  Raise it come on!"  or "Stay after class and ask the teacher about ____."  or  "go look up that topic from class online."  But then you have another character that looks like a little cute "graduation cap of smartness."  His nose is a little too pointy and his voice is a little too smooth.  He says, "don't ask a question, you'll look stupid."  "Don't stay after class, you'll embarrass yourself - your teacher is busy, they don't have time for you."  "don't look a CLASS topic up online - everyone will think you're a nerd.  You're smart, you don't need to look that up."

There's another quote that I want to share with you:  

"If you're not trying to be the best SOMETHING (teacher... writer... accountant... psychologist... businessperson... wife... son... mom... friend) in the world, then what are you doing with your life?  Are you trying to just be normal?  Whatever your life is about, do whatever it takes to become the BEST of that thing in the world.  Give yourself permission to put that much energy into it.  You'll stop blending in to everyone else, but you'll also find meaning like you've never found before.  And people will start coming to you for advice.  You will learn more than you ever imagined.  You'll become more than you thought possible.  And your dreams themselves will grow in front of your eyes (McManus)."

Ok... now which one do you think is a better guide for your education if your goal is to become the BEST ____ in the world?  Cloud of Confusion? or Graduation cap of smartness?  Mr. Grad cap is going to say - "You are already the best.  You don't need to improve!  You're awesome.  Plus, you don't want to stick out too much... people will notice. What if you make a little mistake, everyone will notice. 

Cloud will tell you, "Wow!  This is going to be fun.  We can meet new people to help.  We can discover new questions every day.  We can figure out things as we go.  If we have a problem or a big failure, we can ask for help from more people."  

Do you see a pattern?  

Looking smart - isolates you

Confusion - calls for people

And then the old saying:  "Two heads are better than one."

Think about who is guiding your education this week.  Give yourself permission to be a nerd about what you love learning about.  Just give yourself permission then go for it.  Push the gas pedal on your life.

I want to be the best teacher in the world.  Am I there yet? No. Absolutely not.  But me and cloud, we're trying to get there.

Professor Ingle

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Obstacles

Okay people, I have a baby.  Let's get it out there for all of you to know.  And on top of that, I'm one of those crazy parents who talk about my baby all the time.  I put pictures of him everywhere on social media.  His name is Liam, and he's almost a year old, and I feel like I learn stuff from him every day.  

Yesterday, he was crawling around on the floor, but I was blocking him with my foot to see what he would do.  Instead of stopping and trying to get me to move my foot or going around, he just kept crawling harder until he got over my foot.  He never stopped, slowed down, or even paused to assess the situation.  He just crawled harder.  

That's when I realized that when we are babies we have this belief that is natural to us:  We can do anything if we just work at it hard enough because we're smart and powerful.  We might not be able to do it fast, but we'll do it in time. 

Wow.  I know at some point in my life I lost that belief and I had to be re-taught that I am powerful, smart, and able to solve problems around me.  Sometimes, I still need people to re-teach me again.

My son saw the obstacle not as an obstacle.  In fact, he didn't even seem to notice it.  Instead, it made him that much more focused and committed to his goal (Remote control on the floor! A very worthy goal, I must say).  

Another honest moment:  I had a HUGE setback in my life this summer.  I was a bit devastated, I'll let you know.  I saw this setback, not as an obstacle that I could overcome with time and working a bit harder, but as an all-out rejection of who I am.  Yeah - that's overkill, I know.  But isn't it like that sometimes?  Things that should be motivating us to put even more of ourselves into what we do, more creativity, more passion, more inspiring of those around us, actually devastate us and make us want to quit?  That's because we forgot to focus on the goal, not the obstacle.  

Some of you might be thinking that you'll try something new, but you're not sure how it will work out.  I want to be the first person to say "Welcome to the obstacles!"  Let's begin the re-learning process that we are able to overcome obstacles by focusing on what's ahead, and crawling all the harder over the obstacle in front of us.  

Let's go.  Life, come on.