Actionable Space

A person's actionable space is the zone in which they can productively do things that have an affect.

For teachers, especially new teachers, there can be a tendency to focus on external factors, such as curriculum (or lack of curriculum), systemic issues, student traits, etc., that can make teaching and learning difficult. While these things all affect teaching and learning, they also tend to be out of the teacher's control. Teachers who learn and improve tend to focus instead on the areas where they can take actions that will make a difference for students.

As teachers continue along their career trajectory, they often are able to expand their sphere of influence, bringing more things into their actionable space.

For example, a new teacher may feel frustrated by the systemic problem of the traditional grading system because it does not provide good information to parents and may contribute to developing fixed mindset in students. Since this teacher may have limited influence over the schools grading system, they may be better to focus on how they can improve the feedback systems within their classes. This is certainly preferable to accepting that students are developing fixed mindsets and feeling helpless because of "the system." As the teacher's sphere of influence expands, however, they may be able to take action on reforming the school level systems, using their success in their classrooms (or departments, or grade level teams) as evidence.