Self as creator vs Self as worker

Is learning work? Is teaching work? There is a tension here in what we believe our schools would like us to be and what we would like to imagine ourselves to be. I had this out last night with a relative. Is going on a school trip work? Is having fun while learning not a job? But it relates directly to the teacher's perceived role in the social software space. "What is my role?", many educators today have asked. "What should we be blogging on? How to we get students to write, get them to be safe, get them to create accessible websites?"

But if, as we have been suggesting all day, we are looking to give learners the opportunity to direct their learning then what is the role of the teacher? Well, in order to teach you have to be the person you want your students to be. I was thinking the same thing this past month or so looking at Curriculum for Excellence. Turn these words on teachers and does the image fit:
'successful learners', 'effective contributors', 'confident individuals', 'responsible citizens'?

Being a responsible citizen means that we have to be honest with ourselves - and presumably those around us. If we want kids to keep learning logs, then we have to do the same. If we want them to enjoy learning then we have to enjoy the teaching, too.

Comments

[Steve]

I think the biggest problem is with the word 'work' and its conetations (spelling?). When someone says we are going to do work then we think 'arghh' it is going to hurt!

I have been chatting this through with Bob & Neil at Thomas Adams and we have discussed scrapping homeWORK as it causes too many issues and problems in lessons. Our thinking at present is to produce additional learning opportunities, which probably wouldn't have a curriculum focus. They could be on developing independent learning skills, research skills etc etc.

Maybe we should look at taking this approach further in our classrooms and scrapping the word 'work' and replacing it with less harsh words. It might not seem like much but I believe it would make a difference.

[David Warlick]

Ewan,

I've enjoyed the pictures from the Blog.ac.uk06. Wish I could have been there. But your phrase, "..in order to teach you have to be the person you want your students to be." nearly knocked me out of my chair. It points to the digital immigrants digital natives thing, but I think it's a whole lot richer than that.

I think that the idea of work needs to change. It still carries too much baggage from our industrial heritage of working the machines.

What does work mean in a creative age (Richard Florida) and among a creative class, where the foundation of work is to invent, express, and converse. Within that context, what's the definition of teacher, learner, classroom, textbook, homework, blah blah blah.

Great post!

[Craig]

Whatever technique you want to use in the classroom, you have to believe it yourself. Be it blogging, jazz chants or TPR. You cannot expect students just to do stuff well simply because you told them to.

Teaching is best done through example. If you think that blogging is important then you have to blog and blog passionately. If you just go through the motions or assign it to students without participating yourself the real message you're send is that, "this is a waste of time, don't bother."

[John]

Ewan,
I am quite interested in the working/learning/play comparison.
Learning and creating in there most positive sense seems pretty much like playing to me. It becomes unpleasant when you cannot do the job or external conditions (say class size) gets in the way.
I've not read deeply about The Play Ethic, but it seems a nice idea.
Maybe the biggest problem about work is the time factor, if I had time to work with all of my class more often, I'd feel like I was playing/creating more, if I can't give a child the time I feel he/she needs I am labouring.