Like at the table, I started "grazing" over my feeds an hour ago and am so intrigued by what I'm reading I'm not getting my work done...I'm "overeating!" Before I even comment on this "THING" I have to quote the Cool Cat Teacher blog and what she has to say about being a "learner."
Her idea that learners need to "view new knowledge not as an opportunity to dig in and resist but to learn and grow" speaks volumes to me! She continues with, "They are always teaching me something new that I didn't know and often pick up on the real stories that no one else is talking about. They are wise not because they know it all but because they know that they don't and have adopted a mindset of lifelong learning."
How wonderful to feel "wise" because I don't know it all! I know that as I read things a second and third time (or tenth or eleventh) over the course of my life that each time I view the concept from a slightly different perspective and use these multiple viewings to synthesize what I know. Too often, those in education who really need to stay in the mode of "lifelong learning", are mired in their current ways and beliefs. I see this even with relatively new college graduates! (For clarification, these are NOT the teachers who most often attend my staff development sessions or literacy classes.) My gosh, if you stop opening your mind to others and their ways of thinking at 22, how stagnant will your career be and how ineffective as a teacher will you become? If I ever feel I know it all, that's when I need to retire, not continue teaching!
Then she continues to talk about excellence. "Excellence means that WHEN a person makes a mistake that they correct their mistake. It means that they sometimes change their minds with valid reasoning. These people have as a goal for their life to BE excellent." I think this desire to be excellent comes with a passion for your job. It's not about being right, it's about being flexible and willing to converse about what you think you know and want to learn more about. Then it becomes about those you teach vs. you, the teacher.
Now it's HOURS later and I forgot where I was going! Better leave and get on to the next "thing" or I'll be feeding here forever.
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I think that sometimes being wrong is how we learn. As teachers our students need to see us fail and recover. I think it's modeling "learning" for them.
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