Educating the Dragon

I have been listening to Wes Fryer’s podcast on K12 Online, trying to catch up from a summer unplugged. There was much in this talk of merit, as there is in many of his podcast, but a statement he made just seemed to jump up and slap me about the face, he said:

“I don’t like the word train….who do we train? Animals. Teachers aren’t animals. Both teachers and students are both learners…. treating them as professional learners is very important.” (Wesley Fryer, 2008-02-06-speedofcreativity)

I concur.

If teachers stop learning, adapting, developing and changing their practice over time than that has got to be bad for the students.

If teachers do not remain current in their knowledge of the profession and the wider world then that has got to be bad for the students.

If teachers are weighted down by the burden we call ‘Admin’ then the enersy they have for classroom practise is drained, that has got to be bad for the students.

If teachers are overwelmed by the enormity of the work through sheer numbers of students they have responsibility for that has got to be bad for the students.

But if the teacher is,

….free from the shackles of unnecessary paperwork,

….free to support and nuture the relationships within a supportive, moderately sized classroom,

… free to seek out learning opportunites for themselves and develop professionally in a direction of their choosing,

…. free to ENJOY their chosen career.

…that has got to be good for the students.

We have got to pass on the passion, model the ideal of being a life-long learner.

After all,

“Teachers make all other professions possible.”

-Annie Belott