Beliefs- Learning should never stand still...

I believe that education is progression; the welcoming of change, the evolution of ideas. The need to be immersed in this movement is characteristic of the life long learner.

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Teachers are very goal oriented, and I often wonder if this is a good thing. So much of what we do as teachers targets static learning goals. Curriculum is the obvious example... we receive our instructions from the Department of Education regarding what we're to teach at each requisite grade level, and then we design our outcomes to match the targets. The teaching process in contemporary education is set up to target an end to the means. Why do we do this?

Away from school, natural learning is so much more organic. Inspiration to learn surrounds us. The incredible world begs us to ask questions and seek understanding about its mysteries. We ask questions, and we seek answers leading to discovery. The process is instinctual. Our wonderment is self-motivated. As long as wonderment exists, it's our human nature to seek understanding.

Perhaps we should try mirroring this phenomena in school. Perhaps we should consider the teaching process more as a means to an end with the end being more learning. In order to do this, I like the idea of promoting inquiry-based learning in school.

Let's start with questions and discover answers instead of defining answers and making up questions.

Let's close the gap between what is natural about the learning process, and the unnatural process of the traditional classroom.

I believe the lifelong learner is simply defined as one who wants to learn every day as a natural element of living. It's an attitude in my mind; the willingness and ability to seek understanding through inquiry are the primary elements of a life-long learner.

Students and teachers who believe learning is a fluid activity that never stops, but rather leads to more questions are life-long learners.

Students and teachers who not only welcome change, (also known as growth) but crave it, are life-long learners.

Students and teachers who want to develop ideas instead of knowing facts are life-long learners.

I am a life-long learner.

Calling All Experts- What is Authentic Learning?

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Learning should be an organic, concentric process, not a linear one. The world surrounds us; it's not a point to point path. However, our education system is set up as a from here to there journey- not a great reflection of the broader world we are a part of. Enter authentic learning.

There is a debate brewing over what authentic learning looks, sounds and feels like, I just know it. I'm hearing people make reference to the term, but I'm not sure if people know what it means. I'm not even sure if I know what it means. I have my point of view on the concept, but I haven't actually heard a definitive explanation. Sad it would be if the potential value of what authentic learning has to offer kids were to be diminished as a result of teachers bantering the term about without actually creating authentic learning in their classrooms. (Reminds me of what's happened with PLC's. Alarmingly, many teachers claim to be involved within a professional learning community, but they have no idea what Richard DuFour intended that to actually mean... I know because I've asked them.)

So what is an authentic learning environment? Here's some examples of what I think an authentic learning environment might look, sound or feel like:

• Kids who go home at the end of the day and do homework that I didn't assign, but that is totally related to what we did in class that day
• Unit and lesson plans that adjust for the unforeseen possibilities that crop up in an organic learning environment (a.k.a. teachers who aren't slaves to their well-thought out plans for instruction; those that think on their feet)
• Evaluation and assessment practices that reflect student's progress against his/her personal goals and aspirations, and that are relative to where the student jumped off at the beginning of the learning journey
• Learning activities that provide multiple formats and opportunities to display learning
• Learning that stimulates all modalities; that draws the whole person into the process... there's more to learning than just what we see with our eyes and hear with our ears
• Learning in three dimensions (can you say paperless teaching?)
• Kids suggesting what we should do next in whatever class to extend the learning objective we just met
• Parents knowing what their kids are doing at school because the kids are so darned excited that they can't wait to tell them every day
• Teaching and learning that understands we are emotional beings; that we need to reach people on personal levels before we can reach them on cognitive levels (and that by doing so, we can go so much further in the cognitive domain)
• Teaching that exploits all degrees and variations of student strengths without apology with the understanding that there is no limit to what can be learned
• Teaching from a perspective that doesn't recognize or validate failure, only relative degrees of success
• Teaching that utilizes various forms of technology as critical tools toward creating authentic learning when the lived experience isn't possible (field trip to the moon)
• Teaching and learning that incorporates the fine arts and physical movement into all learning activities as opposed to the traditional practise of conducting classes for these as separate 'subjects'
• Teaching and learning that incorporates the issues, challenges, contexts and mysteries that the broader world provides
• Teaching and learning that perceives mistakes as critical and valuable elements within the process of searching for understanding
• Teaching and learning that accepts the connectivity we enjoy in our global environment not as a novelty, but a necessity
• Teaching and learning that exudes creativity and takes risks understanding that the two mixed together equal opportunity 

OK you experts, how am I doing? I swear I have not looked up authentic learning on Wikipedia, nor have I done research anywhere else on the topic whatsoever. I'm just throwing this out there hoping I'm close to the mark because I sure like the thought of teaching in a class that looks, sounds and feels like what I describe.

Perspective...

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No matter what I do or what situations I find myself in, I am realizing more and more over time that it's all about perspective.

I am many things: a teacher; father; husband; son; employee; leader, and no matter what role I'm playing, I have found it increasingly valuable and enlightening to seek perspective. I have mine, but it changes with the moods and experiences I have. Taking the deliberate time to reflect on my perspective, my 'meta-perspective' allows me to adjust as I gain clarity, objectivity and distance from the emotional side of my point of view, (the part that is seldom, if ever, non-biased.)

Reciprocally, taking the time to consider the perspectives of those around me, particularly those who are struggling emotionally with an issue, has allowed me to also gain clarity, objectivity and distance from the emotionality of their point of view; to take a rather clinical approach, if you will, toward understanding what they are thinking, feeling and experiencing, and how or why their actions may be correlated. My growing skill has proven to be invaluable.

Behind every confrontation, every misunderstanding and every flawed communication is a set of variables that set the stage... a story that leads in a quantum manner toward the trouble. Getting to that story and understanding those variables is the key to avoiding, or at least reducing the negative effect of the trouble. If we can make a sincere effort to understand where others are coming from, (even if we can't ever truly know how they feel, we can at least attempt to see what they see,) we can then retell their story in personal terms that allow us to adjust our reaction appropriately. Interpersonally speaking, to deal with the trouble at face value without knowing the story behind it is unproductive and usually leads to further symptomatic escalation... more confrontation, misunderstanding and miscommunication.

Do something smart... don't just put yourself in the shoes of those that challenge your patience, put yourself in their heads. Your response will be calm, objective, intelligent and appropriate... elements that, generally speaking, lead to improved relations.