When implementing something new in your school or your classroom, are you a snail or a goldfish?
I couldn’t help but think about this earlier this month, when I was visiting a friend in York Beach, Maine. As we walked along the beach, I noticed the beautiful tracks created by snails. The snail trails in the tidal ponds were incredibly slow to form, but the final product was intricate and beautiful. Integrated and circuitous, circling back and recursive. The snail took its time to pave a path, and I couldn’t help but stand in awe of the results. And the waves weren’t washing them away, but they had some sense of longevity. They were sticking around despite the churning water around them.
I returned home to my fish pond. My goldfish zipped this way and that, frantic, urgent. Spastic. I could feel their anxious energy.
It made me question implementation speed in education and pose some questions to myself: Which times in life do I act as the snail? Or the goldfish?
What are the pros and cons of both?
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