When I ask this question I gt a varying degree of answers and it is because of these answers that I have decided to write this post.
Lately I have been thinking a great deal about the role of a teacher and the role we play in the grand scheme of learning. Putting aside various fees on teaching pedagogy I think we can all agree that teaching is currently undergoing a dramatic change in its profession. I think that we can also agree that knowledge is no longer obtained the same ways in which we use to obtain it and it is very rapidly changing. It seems that every second there is some new break through in technology or some new scientific break through. So if this is the case should our teaching change to reflect this?
This actual idea started with a post from my good friend Brian Aspinall:
We used to attend school because that's where the knowledge was. pic.twitter.com/tdLppg5kQf
— Brian Aspinall (@mraspinall) May 17, 2015
Catch the whole conversation here: https://twitter.com/mraspinall/status/599915516254236672.
This started a chain reaction and conversation that was truly amazing to be a part of. There was two main parts to this conversation. The role of a teacher and 2) creating and sustaining this change.
The Role of the Teacher
The bases was that teaching has not changed, our role continues to educate and motivate students to learn but what has and should be changing is how. Now this may stir some to stand up and revolt about what I am saying but I truly believe that the teaching profession needs to change their methods or we will become obsolete.
I think this for three main reasons: 1) With the ever increasing access to information students can obtain anything in manner of seconds. Its as easy as saying, "Siri, whats the population of China?" Presto you have that information. The problem lies in how do we assess which information we need and what is true. This is critically thinking. This is the skill that needs to be taught. However, we often find classrooms a place of regurgitation of information that is outdated the moment we learn it. Now please don't get me wrong, facts are important to learn, basic skills are needed and yes memorizing is important too but all of this can be learned at the same time as critically thinking and evaluating information. 2) Learning is happening whether we like it or not. Now this is not a new phenomenon but I do find a lot more students are taking to youtube, books, and other information to learn about topics that interest them. My own five year old daughter knows how to youtube minecraft in order to figure out how to do something in the game. If we are not careful in our teaching soon students may soon see school as an obsolete place. 3) My final reason is that I am ever depressed to see that school itself has not really changed since its inception. What I mean by this is schools, physical space and mental space. We can still walk into a school and it looks the exact same way it did in 1880's. Yes materials, tools, and colour has changed by the premise of school hasn't. Kids sit in rows or even groups, they walk in straight orderly lines, we go to school 8-3, Sept to June, its endless at the similarities between the eras. But with the rapid changing world this needs to change.
If we are going to make this shift then as a teacher our role needs to change. No longer am I the wise person who stands before the classroom to impart all of my wisdom in one fell swoop, no longer am I the end all to be all for information and no longer am I the one to start, initiate and carry the conversations. These areas fall on the students. However, I am the one to plan rich and engaging lessons, I am the one who anticipates the majority of work and possible answers, I am the one who is constantly walking around my classroom, inspecting students thinking, strategies and work samples. I am the one that is assessing as I work, thinking about next steps, where students are and what I need to do to make that happen. I am also the one that plans purposeful questions and comments that at the right moment can make many students go "Aha." I am also the one that if I recognize real struggle that I differentiated for them but only when they need it.
In addition, school shouldn't be this archaic place of learning. Space needs to be reinvented, times and timetabling needs to be more flexible. We need to go back to a place of learning.
This last part is the one I am currently struggling with. It is very easy to get discouraged by how slow progress seems to be going. We have often debated, the time factor, the money factor, the willingness to learn but to me these just seem like excuses as to why something is failing. They are all factors in they why but I think that instead of focusing on the why we should be asking how do we support this change?
What do we need to do to allow fellow teachers to grasp, understand, implement and then affect change in others?
What is missing that isn't done already?
or How can we change what we are doing already in order to affect this change?
I don't think this is a simple answer but I do think that it needs to happen faster than it is currently. Our students are embarking into a world that rapidly changing, information that use to last us a life time is no longer lasting these students more then a year. We need to change our teaching methods, strategies in order to meet this. Then again, this is only my opinion, would love to hear yours.
I think this for three main reasons: 1) With the ever increasing access to information students can obtain anything in manner of seconds. Its as easy as saying, "Siri, whats the population of China?" Presto you have that information. The problem lies in how do we assess which information we need and what is true. This is critically thinking. This is the skill that needs to be taught. However, we often find classrooms a place of regurgitation of information that is outdated the moment we learn it. Now please don't get me wrong, facts are important to learn, basic skills are needed and yes memorizing is important too but all of this can be learned at the same time as critically thinking and evaluating information. 2) Learning is happening whether we like it or not. Now this is not a new phenomenon but I do find a lot more students are taking to youtube, books, and other information to learn about topics that interest them. My own five year old daughter knows how to youtube minecraft in order to figure out how to do something in the game. If we are not careful in our teaching soon students may soon see school as an obsolete place. 3) My final reason is that I am ever depressed to see that school itself has not really changed since its inception. What I mean by this is schools, physical space and mental space. We can still walk into a school and it looks the exact same way it did in 1880's. Yes materials, tools, and colour has changed by the premise of school hasn't. Kids sit in rows or even groups, they walk in straight orderly lines, we go to school 8-3, Sept to June, its endless at the similarities between the eras. But with the rapid changing world this needs to change.
If we are going to make this shift then as a teacher our role needs to change. No longer am I the wise person who stands before the classroom to impart all of my wisdom in one fell swoop, no longer am I the end all to be all for information and no longer am I the one to start, initiate and carry the conversations. These areas fall on the students. However, I am the one to plan rich and engaging lessons, I am the one who anticipates the majority of work and possible answers, I am the one who is constantly walking around my classroom, inspecting students thinking, strategies and work samples. I am the one that is assessing as I work, thinking about next steps, where students are and what I need to do to make that happen. I am also the one that plans purposeful questions and comments that at the right moment can make many students go "Aha." I am also the one that if I recognize real struggle that I differentiated for them but only when they need it.
In addition, school shouldn't be this archaic place of learning. Space needs to be reinvented, times and timetabling needs to be more flexible. We need to go back to a place of learning.
Creating and Sustaining
This last part is the one I am currently struggling with. It is very easy to get discouraged by how slow progress seems to be going. We have often debated, the time factor, the money factor, the willingness to learn but to me these just seem like excuses as to why something is failing. They are all factors in they why but I think that instead of focusing on the why we should be asking how do we support this change?
What do we need to do to allow fellow teachers to grasp, understand, implement and then affect change in others?
What is missing that isn't done already?
or How can we change what we are doing already in order to affect this change?
I don't think this is a simple answer but I do think that it needs to happen faster than it is currently. Our students are embarking into a world that rapidly changing, information that use to last us a life time is no longer lasting these students more then a year. We need to change our teaching methods, strategies in order to meet this. Then again, this is only my opinion, would love to hear yours.
