As a technology integration specialist my job is to help other teachers learn more about technology, but the real spillover is that I get to help other teachers to learn more about all sorts of stuff. Because of this I’ve come to a much better understanding of what it means to be a lifelong learner, to find true joy in learning for learning’s sake, and to be curious about pretty much everything. I love learning, and I find it difficult to understand why others sometimes appear not to.
Many schools espouse the values of lifelong learning, but not all have teachers who live those values on a daily basis. We have a new principal in our school this year, and like all management changes it often comes with a great deal of conjecture about what might change, what new ideas will be put in place. Over the last few weeks I’ve been able to get an insight into our new boss and what’s important to him, and to get a feel for where our school might be heading over the next few years. And for many reasons, I’m excited about it.
In particular, I was pleased to discover that I’m working for a guy who openly states that…
- Learning to be a teacher is like all learning: it doesn’t occur in an easy linear fashion. All of us are in the business of continual improvement.
- Teachers are responsible to take charge of their professional learning.
You’d think that such statements are obvious, but so few leaders will actually say it. What a breath of fresh air.
The Right Direction by Chris Betcher is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
I have enjoyed reading your post and can relate to all you have written. I am in the latter partof my teaching career (30 years service) and have never given up learning. That’s why I enjoy being an ICT Lead Teacher at my school and having the opportunity to share my knowledge and passion with my colleagues. I am indebted to my facilitator and mentor Allanah K.
Great post Chris. I love learning too and doing professional development and learning more is one of the things I love ablout being in teaching. In fact at the moment I am not teaching – quit my job , so am using the time to learn more so that I am better prepared when I find another job. So now have more time to read your blogs – which I always enjoy!