Just Tell Me How I Can Get My “A”
Weblogg-ed » Why is it so Hard for Educators to Focus on Their Own Learning?
So what’s that all about? Is it just habit? Is it just such a focus on curriculum delivery that “learning” is all about how to do that job better? Is changing the way we do our own business just too darn hard? Or is this such a huge shift, this idea that we can actually learn through the use of technology that most people just don’t think they have to go there, that they can just keep using it as a way to communicate without the surrounding connective tissue where the real learning takes place
I just responded to this on Will Richardson’s site. Perhaps I can shout it from this little platform that could, too.
Is this assumption true: all teachers are learners. Yes, but for different reasons. Some learn from fear. They are the ones who are afraid of being left behind or not getting tenure or of looking bad. This is very shallow learning at best. Of course they will not entangle themselves in the tools. They fear them. Just like students don’t really learn for the long term when fear is the motivator.
Some learn from curiosity which is really another form of love. They seek because they are confident and have faith in the power of knowing. It is a power that grows from within and because it radiates then they can share it. That is called teaching.
Which kind do most schools encourage? Our systems (technological, social, institutional) do their best to quell the Protean shifts that learning loving folks must embrace. Until our systems become more convivial than they are, we will have our strategic “teachers” who are little better than the baffled student who in frustration demands from the Socratic teacher, “Just tell me how I can get my A.”
I guess Will does get frustrated with this since it is his full-time gig now. I feel it in my position as CPO (Chief Proselytizing Officer) in my classrooms and among my colleagues. I feel it here on this blog when I try to share what little I have in my four pound universe atop my spinal column. Does anyone really care about what I am doing with technology here? Judging by comments (not really a good judge of blogging character) and other stats provided by Google Analytics I am broadcasting to dead air. So while I sympathize with Will I gotta say, “Live it or live with it. Keep on or get out.” Just imagine what it’s like to be a non-A-list blogger (hell, the alphabet doesn’t even go far enough to designate my oblivion) in the middle of a seething maelstrom of anti-intellectualism that thinks of improved technology as another channel on the cable and perhaps you will know it is far more than just you. We are all living in that “Black Swan” moment, but only a few of us dimly see it. You know what I am talking about–prophets in their own time and all that. The only question I have for you is this from my bad of old skool metaphors, bromides, and cliches, “Is the game worth the candle?” Who am I kidding?
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tellio :: Jul.18.2007 :: Uncategorized :: No Comments »