From Teaching to Growth: Growth Loop by Thuc Phan C.

There was a moment not long ago when I realized something uncomfortable.

I was teaching every day.
I was planning lessons, adjusting activities, supporting children.
I was doing everything a “good teacher” is supposed to do.

…but I wasn’t really growing.

Not in a clear, visible, structured way.

And I started asking myself:

👉 Why do we expect children to grow systematically… but not teachers?

That question changed everything for me.

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🌱 1. Teaching is happening—but growth is invisible

In most schools, growth looks like this:

• You gain experience over time
• You attend occasional training
• You “feel” like you are improving

But there is no:

• Clear record of what you tried
• Reflection on what worked
• Connection between actions and skills

👉 Growth is happening… but it’s invisible, unstructured, and easy to forget.

Compare that with how we teach children:

• We observe
• We document
• We assess
• We adjust

So I started wondering:

👉 What if teachers had the same system?

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🧠 2. Courses don’t change teaching—practice does

I’ve taken courses.
I’ve designed courses.
I believe in them.

But here’s the truth:

👉 Courses don’t change teaching.
👉 What you do after the course does.

Most platforms stop at:

• Watch → Learn → Complete

But real teaching looks like:

• Try → Fail → Adjust → Try again

That gap is where most professional development fails.

So instead of asking:
👉 “How can I build better courses?”

I started asking:
👉 “How can I support what happens AFTER the lesson?”

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🔁 3. I designed a simple loop: Learn → Apply → Reflect → Grow

Everything I’m building now is based on one simple loop:

👉 Learn → Apply → Record → Reflect → Grow

This is not theory.
This is what teachers already do—just unconsciously.

So I made it visible.

Example:

• Learn a strategy about classroom management
• Try it in class
• Record what happened
• Reflect on what worked / didn’t
• Identify the skill you are building

👉 That’s real professional growth.

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🧩 4. I replaced “notes” with “scenarios”

Teachers often write notes like:

• “Today was difficult”
• “Students didn’t listen”

But those notes don’t help us grow.

So I changed the structure.

Instead of notes → I use scenarios:

Each scenario includes:

• What happened
• What I did
• What worked / didn’t
• What I learned

👉 This small shift changed everything.

Now I can:

• See patterns
• Track improvement
• Connect actions to skills

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📊 5. Growth becomes visible (and motivating)

Something surprising happened.

When I started recording my experiences:

👉 I became more motivated.

Why?

Because now I could see:

• “I handled behavior 3 times this week”
• “I improved my transitions”
• “I’m still struggling with engagement”

👉 Growth became something I could SEE.

And once you see progress… you want to continue.

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🧭 6. Skills become real—not just words

We often say things like:

• “Good classroom management”
• “Strong communication”

But what do those actually mean?

In my system, skills are built through evidence:

• Each scenario links to a skill
• Skills are built through repeated actions

👉 Not just something you say
👉 But something you can show

This is very different from certificates.

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⚖️ 7. Certificates vs Real Teaching Evidence

Let’s be honest.

Certificates say:

• “You completed a course”

But they don’t show:

• What you actually did
• How you handled real situations
• How you improved over time

Now imagine instead:

👉 A teacher profile that shows:

• Real classroom situations
• Actions taken
• Reflections
• Skill growth

Which one is more meaningful?

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⚡ 8. Teachers don’t need more content—they need support in the moment

One thing I realized quickly:

Teachers are not lacking content.

They are lacking:

👉 Support at the moment they need it

Example:

• A child is not listening
• A lesson is not working
• A transition becomes chaotic

In that moment, teachers don’t think:

❌ “Let me watch a 2-hour course”

They need:

👉 Quick ideas
👉 Real examples
👉 Practical strategies

That’s why this system focuses on real situations, not just theory.

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🤝 9. This is not just a system—it’s a mindset shift

At first, I thought I was building a tool.

Now I realize:

👉 I’m changing how I think about teaching.

From:

• “Did I finish the lesson?”

To:

• “What did I learn from today?”

From:

• “Was the class good or bad?”

To:

• “What skill am I building?”

This shift is powerful.

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🚀 10. Why I’m sharing this (and why you might try it)

I’m not writing this because I have everything figured out.

I’m still building.
Still testing.
Still improving.

But I can already see this:

👉 Teaching becomes more intentional
👉 Growth becomes visible
👉 Motivation becomes internal

And most importantly:

👉 You feel like you are developing, not just working

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🌿 A small invitation

If you’re a teacher reading this, I invite you to try something simple:

After your next class, write:

• What happened
• What you tried
• What worked / didn’t
• What you would change

Do this for 3–5 days.

You might start to see something:

👉 Patterns
👉 Progress
👉 Possibilities

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I’m currently building this into a system (KNW Kids), but honestly:

👉 The system is just a tool.

The real change is:

👉 How we see our own growth as teachers

And maybe…

that’s where everything begins.