I meet many educators around the world, virtually and in person… Many times, I am still amazed at the resistance to new ideas, change and willingness to apply the learning they expect of students to their own learning.
Here are the 3 things, above all, that I wish educators knew about their own learning.
- The understanding that we don’t know, what we don’t know!
- How can we be resistant to pedagogy, tools and strategies that we have never experienced for learning ourselves?
- How can we try out new forms of teaching and learning, if we are not even aware they exist and play a vital role in the lives around us?
- How can we be dismissive of the potential outcomes in learning, if we don’t walk the walk?
- The understanding that it is about life long learning.
- Being an educator means being in the business of learning!
- Having completed a formal degree or having received a certification, does not mean the world around us is at a stand still and our knowledge will continue to serve us in the present and future.
- It is possible and even likely that an educator could be classified as “illiterate” for the 21st century, if they were to stop learning and feel satisfied with their 20th century education.
- The understanding that there exists a moral imperative of sharing as an educator.
- Learning is amplified when shared
- Sharing of your reflections, thoughts, ideas, best practices, feedback and resources is part of the mechanism of social learning
- If no one were to step up to share, social media, crowdsourcing or personal learning networks (PLNs) would not exist.
Silvia your blog comes at an important point in my life. I recently went back to school to earn my Masters degree after being in the classroom for 21 years. My original intention was to move over on the pay scale as I look towards my retirement in a few years. Yet, as I began to take courses I realized that there was a lot going on in the field of education that “I didn’t know that I didn’t know.” It made me realize the importance of keeping up with with the latest research surrounding education. This ties into becoming a life-long learner. I have had to try out new strategies, change ideas and schedules, connect more with the community I work with as well as engage and explore new technologies. I’ve had to walk the walk. I am glad I did! I was too quickly becoming an illiterate educator in the 21st century! The biggest reward for me has been the opportunity to collaborate with my classmates via discussion boards. I have grown in my profession because of them. My grade level’s personal philosophy is “sharing is caring.” We all have our expertise and sharing through collaborative efforts makes my job more rewarding!