A Teacher’s job used to be far more simple. Roughly, it could be seen as content distribution.
I often refer to the ‘old school teacher’ as being a knowledge sprinkler who stands at the front of the room spraying information across the crowd, hoping that some of it sticks.
And while I know (I’ve seen the memes) that a Teacher’s role now encompasses many aspects of counselling, mentoring, parenting, nursing, etc etc I want us to momentarily park that it’s all about role expansion.
That’s a distraction from the fundamental change in role that has happened.
Rather than a knowledge sprinkler, I’ve come to believe that a more appropriate job description would be “Designer of learning environments and experiences where learning is most likely to happen.”
In regard to environment – when was the last time you stood in the corner of your empty classroom and asked yourself “How does the architecture of this space drive the kind of student engagement, behaviour and learning that I want?”
In regard to experiences – ask “How do my defaults for lesson planning ignite curiosity and spark interest?”
Invest no shame or pride in your answers. Just let them guide some important ‘new school teacher’ decision making.
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