Shooting for the Moon

We’ve often heard the phrase, “shoot for the moon, if you miss you’ll land among the stars.” But what exactly does that mean when applied to the field of public education?

To many of us educators who strive for constant improvement, that means seeking relevant professional development on our own, creating an evolving classroom environment that we enjoy showing up to each day, improving our lessons and delivery year after year, filling our own buckets to maintain our emotional well-being, and showing up daily to do the hard work of connecting emotionally and mentally with students.

We feel like we reach the moon when we have implemented a lesson and knocked it out of the park. When we have tried some brave, new adventure of a lesson because we’ve noticed the needs and interests of our learners have changed and we are there to meet them.

Every teacher began with a 'why,' an experience in his personal life that made him say, 'I’m going to be a teacher because I can do (fill in the blank) better for students when I’m in charge.' 

But what happens when we miss the moon, only to land among the stars? Have we failed? Should we give up because of the time and effort that adventure took? Of course not. Growth is found in the risk, always.

The problem we have as educators is not the willingness to take risks.

It’s in the greater system that boxes in many creative, brilliant minds. Every teacher began with a “why,” an experience in his personal life that made him say, “I’m going to be a teacher because I can do (fill in the blank) better for students when I’m in charge.”

This mindset is quickly lost when we realize most of our time teaching is anything but. It is clerical work. Responding to parents. Meeting, after meeting, after meeting. Though we keep dreaming for the moon, we just don’t have the time to get there every day as we desire with our lessons.

At Education Blueprint, we believe we have created the solution for educators to reach the moon daily.

Instead of creating engaging lessons all by ourselves, with the one or two other people who teach our subject in our building, or searching for hours online in our precious free time, we now have a single, interactive platform to share our lessons and resources that make for the best learning experiences. We have one social platform for K-12 to collaborate, engage, follow, find, and rate these learning opportunities that exist “out there.” As pretty as the stars may be, let’s all aim for the moon and get there together as one.