One of the most important skills great teachers possess is the ability to take risks.  As a mentor to new teachers, I always encourage “no fear” teaching, with common sense of course.  What I mean by that is  teaching intuitively and being very careful not to avoid implementing innovative ideas for fear of, well, anything.  We should never do anything out of fear but we should definitely not teach out of fear.  Many teachers I talk to express fear of being fired or reprimanded or fear of failure.  When you are afraid, it may be a time for extra planning or collaboration but not a time to stop innovating.  Consider how you can do what it is you want rather than why you can’t do it.

One issue that I feel strongly about is the negative impact that grades are having on learning.  Everyone I talk to about this assures me that there is no way that we could ever function without grades and they provide a long lists of reasons why; colleges wouldn’t accept students, parents would never adjust, students wouldn’t be motivated, you name it.  I attended the University of California at Santa Cruz (UCSC) which offers narrative evaluations instead of grades.  When I chose to receive narrative evaluations over grades, people told me that I wouldn’t be able to go to graduate school.  Consistent with my no fear attitude, I told them that was ridiculous.  It was a University of California! Angela Davis lectures there.  And I was right.  I had no problems getting into graduate school.  I chose this issue as an example of what can happen when you aren’t afraid to try because there are very few who have been willing to take the risk on this one.  One man did and there is quite a bit of evidence that thoughtful changes can happen, even ones that seem impossible, when we put aside our fears and take the risk.  Check out this blog by Rick Posner on a successful school without grades in Colorado.  And then consider what risks you could take tomorrow.