A Teacher’s Thoughts

A recent post at Remote Access asks, “Are Schools Irrelevant?“, suggesting that with today’s connectivity and information resources, content acquisition is more expedient, meaningful, and lasting through other means. This is probably true. And, there are likely many teachers who still see themselves as the ones with the knowledge. But that is not what school is. A school is a place with teachers, well meaning, caring adults who have an opportunity to make a connection with the kids that come through their rooms. These connections set the stage for relationships and modeling of the behaviors of a learner. I have been reading Chris Craft at Crucial Thought for six months or so now. He has often spoken of the centrality of relationships to learning. I agree absolutely. Life is learning, learning comes from relationships and relationships start with connections.
Technology and in particular Web 2.0 may be changing aspects of society, but kids still want to learn, they still look up to adults, they still seek solid role models. If we, as teachers can be that, then our relevancy is guaranteed.