The Quantum Physics of Teaching: Shifting 180 degrees

Haven't blogged for a while. It's been the usual too much to do and too little time but this has been slowly percolating in the back on my mind and came to the fore last week when someone mentioned how I often tend to find the positive in the negative but in a way that creates forward action. It's intentional and has taken time to perfect but it can make a huge difference in terms finding better solutions to nagging problems.

It's called 180-degree thinking and it's about looking at situations with a different lens than the one that is immediately evident and the one that we default to first by fully discounting it. That's right. That (often negative) interpretation of a problem? Observe it then discount it.

How is this relevant to teaching? Cognitive bias. Our brains are cognitive bias machines and the bias that we often find in schools and classrooms is the ".. actor-observer bias: “the tendency for explanations of other individuals’ behaviors to overemphasize the influence of their personality and underemphasize the influence of their situation … and for explanations of one’s own behaviors to do the opposite" - a quote from this amazing article on cognitive bias- highly recommend it!

That difficult co-worker who always has to moan about everything new and resists change? That learner who no matter what you try is always disengaged? We often focus with 'what's wrong with them.'

How about this 180-degree view shift: What- in the current environment around them- could be causing their frustration? Where might the lack of confidence to try and engage be coming from? How could I support them? What have I tried that's worked, what's not working and what might be possible to try next?

Since lack of self-efficacy and or stress is at the core of both of these situations, 180-degree view moves the perspective from the obvious of what we observe and is outside of one's locus of control. It invites a deeper look at the situation ecologically rather than focus on the personal; to dig a little bit deeper and recognise that what might be perceived as negative behaviour is a sign of stress, of struggle, and that the task then is to find ways to uplift and support that person, that human being, to flourish.

Our perspective and perception create the environment around us. 180-degree thinking makes me smile.