Rip Van Winkle & Education

Photo credit: http://www.charlesfake.com/2016/07/07/july_6_2016_wednesday_most/

I recently heard someone say something to the effect of "Education is the only place that Rip Van Winkle could wake up and feel at home."  (paraphrased).  Think about that for a minute and really let that sink in.....

Rip Van Winkle could sleep for hundreds of years, walk into a modern-day classroom, and feel at home.  It would feel familiar: desks, rows, teacher at the front with the all the information, students as passive learners, lecture style instruction.....  

While there are exceptions to this rule - thank goodness - they are not as prevalent as we would like.  Part of the reason for this is we, as educators, teach the way we were taught.  Most teachers were successful as students in traditional school and it worked for them.  You repeat what you know and what you think will continue to work.  Same reason that most parents "parent" their own children using the same methods that their parents used.  It is familiar.  What you know.

After being out of the classroom for a while, I was able to observe many different teachers in their classrooms and see wonderful strategies at work.  The world of pedagogy opened up to me!  I became a much better educator because my "toolkit" had been filled with many other tools as a result of observing a multitude of teachers.  I learned so much - different ways to relate to kids, various instructional methodologies, effective collaboration and group work, different strategies for classroom management, effective methods for beginning and ending a lesson, how to get students to reflect on their learning, how to get students more engaged and take a greater responsibility in their own learning....  I could go on and on.

In my role as an administrator, I had the privilege to learn from so many differing classroom environments.  As a result, when I worked with teachers I had more and better ideas to suggest they try for a variety of situations they were experiencing in their classrooms.

Sadly, the thought that kept coming to my mind was, "I wish I had known all this when I was a teacher!"  If I had the opportunity to visit classrooms while I was a teacher, I would have seen things teachers were doing effectively in their classroom and then tweak my instruction, which would have ultimately benefited my students.  Of course this was still in the days before the internet, Twitter, YouTube.... so resources were much more limited than today.

When I first began teaching, each teacher was considered an island.  You closed your door and taught your class however you saw fit.  No one shared lessons, ideas or planned lessons together.  Also the environment fostered this "each teacher as an island" concept.  Teachers wanted to be the "best teacher in the building," and if they shared their lessons, assessments, etc, they would run the risk of losing their title in the school and community.  

Now, with the shift to "Professional Learning Communities," collaboration and sharing is the expectation.  This model benefits children tremendously because when teachers share lessons and strategies - ALL the teachers get better.  As the teachers get better, instruction gets better, learning deepens, and students benefit.  Win - Win!

Today, teacher-seekers have a vast number of resources they can use to improve their craft - Twitter, Pinterest, Blogs, YouTube, TED Talks......  Those who want to get better need only connect to a device to find new and innovative ways to change their instruction and meet the needs of all learners in their classroom.  I love the #obersveme movement and its push to get teachers to learn from each other as they visit each other's classrooms.  This needs to be the norm and not the exception.  

As educators, we must continue to challenge the "status quo" of schooling.  We want Rip Van Winkle to wake up in a modern school and be totally disoriented!