A former Teacher of the Year in Alaska and doctoral candidate working in Shanghai learns how much there is to learn about teaching and learning.
Sunday, November 18, 2007
Rome Wasn't Built in a Day
I feel like a mouse in a labyrinth of new knowledge and ideas!
The change from the classroom to consulting after 12 years in the classroom is a true paradigm shift. Fortunately, this is hastened by courses in leadership which constantly asks for reflections on practices in my school.
I am blessed to now have thousands of schools/educators from which to learn. I know their histories and aspirations as I work with them and gain institutional knowledge from new and savvy colleagues.
We are internet based. This is nothing knew for meaningful curriculum mapping . If not familiar with it, learn about it now rather than at the latter part of your teaching career as I did, to avoid that "where have you been all of my career" feeling.
What attracted me to the firm first as a client and then as a career path is that we don't merely fly in, "consult and leave"; we learn from our clients and their needs to better education world-wide.
So what does this mean for in a climate of growing Technology and Learning for educators?
Thank goodness our development team is keyed in to the latest and greatest and embraces the firm's philosophy of growth. Thank goodness they know and are keen to know more about what tools teachers are using and could be using in the classroom.
But useful tools take time to build and generations to evolve. After all, the touchscreen ipod wasn't built in a day.
What to do in the interim?
Keep learning.
But to quote a friend and mentor, the cutting edge thinkers hurt my brain.
Listen.
How do you let ambitious teachers/clients know you hear their needs?
And wait. But there is so much at stake. Mostly, the quality learning of children.
Isn't it better to focus on teaching them how to be lifelong learners rather than feeding them facts and skills?
To steal the lyrics from Morcheeba:
One fine day, we'll fly away. Don't you know Rome wasn't built in a day?
Enjoy the music and dancing. Music always soothes my savage intellectual beasts when my brain is hurting. . .
(images hyperlinked to sources)
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