Lifelong learning = Lifelong change

Today's post is brought to you by Penny Antell.

Road to Revelation

Thank goodness we’re allowed to grow, learn, and change throughout our lives.  We’ve all met people who are very set in their ways and convinced their opinions and their thinking is the RIGHT and ONLY way.  Phew!  Sure glad I don’t need to live by such rigid beliefs.  Encouraging, living, and enjoying a lifelong education has allowed me to grow and change throughout my career.  As I reflect upon how I’ve grown and changed since I first began teaching, I am eternally grateful for the opportunities I've had.

Classrooms of the past

I used to think:   A quiet classroom where desks were in rows and children sat quietly reading and filling out worksheets was a place of learning.  This equated with good discipline, concentration and the development of study habits.

Collaboration

Now I know:  Collaboration and discussion are key to developing deeper thinking, challenging one anothers beliefs and forcing students to reflect upon what they have learned, what they believe, and why.  By bringing together differing thoughts, students are forced to return to the text, reread what has been interpreted, and refine their understandings.

For the Love of Books

I used to think:  We needed a list of titles that each classroom would be allowed to use as read-alouds with their students, or used for whole group instruction where each child would hold a copy of the same text to learn from.  We couldn’t have the same book read aloud in one grade and then expect that students would read it in a later grade for another purpose. That was absurd!

Now I know: There are many, many reasons to read and reread great books again and again.  I encourage teachers to pull out the classics to help students write like the great authors they’ve been reading.  I encourage teachers and students to return to the text to dig deeper into the meaning. There’s still more there.  Dig, find, what else is the author teaching you here?  Why?  How do you know?  

Lucy Calkins teaches us to stand on the shoulders of our favorite authors.  It is apparent when children have clasped their hands around the language Jane Yolen uses in her writing, or they’ve connected to the humor of Roald Dahl and Robert Munsch.  There are many, many purposes to reread good books.  It is like visiting with old friends. Each time you meet, you discover something new you hadn’t know previously.

Readers vary

I used to think:  That programs would address the needs of all the students in my classroom and if I followed the outlines and instructions within them, I was a meeting these needs successfully.  I thought my students would learn because I covered the materials.  I thought I was a good teacher if I made it through the entire teacher’s manual in one year. I thought that using worksheets was reinforcing student learning.

Now I know: Each child entering a classroom or school building is unique with very different needs.  Each child needs instruction pitched at their level, following their style of learning and matching their interests.  I know that teaching is the greatest challenge I will ever face. I know that to make a difference for each child I need to listen to him, hear what she wants to share and discover each child’s needs.  With this knowledge, I need to create lessons that meet each child and move him forward one lesson at a time.  I know that creating a bond with the students sitting in my classroom will make a difference in their commitment to learning and their desire to learn.

I used to wonder, did I make the right choice becoming an educator?  This job is so hard and takes so incredibly much time to do well.  Is this really how I want to spend the rest of my life?  Am I making a difference in the lives of others?  In society?

Know I know indeed, this is my life dream.  I see the look upon students faces when they know they learned something new today.  When each child embraces learning and is excited about the next new topic knowing they will benefit from attending school and working hard.  I know I’ve made a difference in the lives of the children and they’re better for it.

Education has taken many twists and turns over the past 24 years I’ve been involved in it and it feels the most tumultuous today: with the extreme politics involved, the lack of respect from the media and the public opinion presented, but still, we continue to invest in the children.  Still we make a difference in the world because as educators, we influence the future.

  

 Change - It happens