Today is my first day of school. I’m excited. I’m nervous. I have a rough plan for this week, but there is a lot of ambiguity in my plan book because I don’t fully know what to expect. I don’t know exactly who my students will be or what their needs will be. I don’t know how they will respond to our new learning environment.
There is a lot I don’t know, but one thing I am certain: I plan to take risks.
Teachers are taught to avoid risk and ambiguity. When John Spencer (2016) asks: Am I sure this will work? what he is really asking is Am I comfortable with taking a risk? Unfortunately, for most teachers, the answer is no. Teachers like to know things. They like to know what to expect and what students will learn when they deliver a planned lesson. Teachers have what professors Bob Sutton and Jeffrey Pfeffer call a “knowing-doing gap: the space between what we know we should do and what we actually do” (Kelley, 2013). They know that they should make learning more engaging and personalized, but they actually just follow the prescribed curriculum map because it is less risky. They often become paralyzed with fear because ambiguity is uncomfortable.
Embracing ambiguity means starting from a place of not fully knowing the answer to a problem you're looking to solve and knowing that, although it’s not particularly comfortable, ambiguity allows you to open up creatively, pursue lots of ideas and arrive at unexpected solutions. This is how I come up with some of my best learning experience ideas. Give yourself permission to explore (both independently and with your students). The right answer often reveals itself.
I don’t know exactly what I will do this week. In fact, the rough sketch I have will probably be scrapped once I meet my students and we engage with each other in the classroom.
The start of every school year (and in fact, the start of every single day) is a new chance to start from a place of not knowing the answer. What will this group of students need today? How will the new learning environment I designed for my students work/not work for them? How will I need to tweak it? Even though it is not comfortable, sitting in discomfort allows me to open up creatively, to pursue lots of different ideas, and to arrive at unexpected solutions. By embracing ambiguity and trusting that a human-centered design process will guide me toward an innovative answer, I give themselves permission to be fantastically creative.
Embracing ambiguity frees teachers to design learning experiences that pursue answers we can’t initially imagine. It puts us (and our students) on a path to routine innovation and lasting impact. In fact, embracing ambiguity is one of our classroom agreements!
It can definitely be uncomfortable not knowing what’s next or not having a clear answer. It is easy to jump to an old lesson plan out of discomfort. However, this risks defaulting to comfortable or reproductive practices. The start of any school year is full of complexity and ambiguity and oftentimes, teachers find themselves managing their anxiety. Here are some tips for embracing ambiguity.
Acknowledge the confusion and discomfort of the uncertainty present in your work.
Find ways to care for yourself as you wade through the uncertainty.
Welcome diversity of discourse even when it an feel complicating.
Remember, when things gets messy (and they most certainly will), stay open to possibility. Powerful learning experiences emerge from the mess, not from avoiding it.
Resources
The Future Is Uncertain: 5 Ways To Embrace Ambiguity by Tracy Brower, PhD
I love the way Patrice Martin discusses how to keep multiple (and oftentimes conflicting) ideas coexist simultaneously.
Tackling Assumption Monsters by Embracing Ambiguity and Curiosity by Heath Sadlier.
If you have any questions about embracing ambiguity or these resources, please reach out. Have a great week!
—Adrian