One of my favourite sayings these days is:
‘Teachers should be the lead learners in the classroom.’
I think that if a teacher goes into a class believing first and foremost that they are ‘model learners’ and that they will learn with their students, then that teacher will create a meaningful and engaging learning environment for their students.
I’ve always been a fan of Kevin Honeycutt, I think he is creative and his podcasts are great. Well now he shares this video that tells the tale about why we need teachers to learn. Enjoy!
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Related posts: Shifting Education and Hargreaves and the 4th Way [Part 2].
How true hey. I think more teachers are starting to realize this and are not playing it as safe. We have 1/3 of our teachers in Coquitlam on a learning team and 41% of these teams have using educational technology as a focus. That’s pretty encouraging. Yes, we have a ways to go but I think the increasing examples teachers can find in their colleagues and as they build a PLN, their network, they learn and change. Cool vid, thanks for sharing.
.-= Brian Kuhn´s last blog ..What is the purpose of school? =-.
Hi Dave,
A great reminder about what it is that we’re doing in class and the video’s fantastic. We don’t always have to learn the same things with our students, but we have to always be learning. I have emphasized trying to pass on little things to the teachers at the school this year and the response has been fantastic. In the last two weeks I have had two teachers come and see me admitting that they know almost nothing about computers but were wondering… The smiles that they left with made me feel really good, and I expect to see them back soon. It’s amazing how much fun learning something new can be.
Cheers!
.-= gmaccoll´s last blog ..Sometimes it’s just too much =-.
I could not agree more. I try so hard to make my students realize that sometimes…I DON’T KNOW! Sometimes I will get a student on the computer to find out while I continue class. Sometimes, I’ll assign finding out as homework, but when something comes up that I don’t know…we ALL know it by the next class period. This year I said that something in the textbook was wrong (British Literature). Kids were really surprised to find out that they can question the veracity/accuracy of any statement. Even if it’s in a textbook. Learning all together is the best part of teaching.
Brian,
I’m such a fan of Learning Teams, and this is the first year since they began that I won’t be part of one… Maybe you can Skype me in some time to one of them? They fit so well with Hargreaves’ ideas of ‘Responsibility before Accountability’ as they recognize teachers as learning professionals.
Greg,
Your comment brought a smile to my face. I love it when we can share with our colleagues and see the excitement over new learning spread. It has taken me some time to SLOW DOWN and not overwhelm teachers that come to me for help… to get them to come back rather than run from the ‘tech evangelist’… I’m on a learning journey too! 😉
Yvonne,
I want you to be my kids’ teacher some day! I always enjoy your comments, you are an inspiration! I think teachers should have a website to go to in order to purposefully seek out errors in the text, just so that they can give this valuable lesson to students: thetextiswrong.com or something like that. Also, I found that “I don’t know” is a good time to tell a student, “That’s a great question!” and encourage quality questioning in my classroom.