Growing up my mom always told me to lead by example. After reading through the Touro values, there are a couple that I find myself gravitating towards. The first being, Intellectual inquiry, discovery, and passion for life-long learning. As educators we are charged with the task of promoting learning, curiosity, discovery and critical thinking. If we are unable to to do these things ourselves, what message does that send to our students? The expensive piece of paper that hangs on my classroom wall (Bachelors degree) is not a finish line but merely an accomplishment. The soon to be paper from Touro, with the Master's of Education imprinted on it, is an artifact from a journey and should not be considered a stopping place. Learning is on-going and the more students see that what they are doing is part of a lifelong journey of collecting, connecting and synthesizing knowledge, the more the process of education becomes less about a separate institution and more about an ingrained part of being human.
The second value that shouts to me is student-centered education. Often times I think back to my first couple of years in the classroom in which I felt that I had to be the source of knowledge, the classroom oracle. As my journey has progressed, I have been more intentional about creating an experience that is not about me and what I know, but about how students access and apply the information. This connected with much of what Ken Robinson writes and speaks about, curiosity. Curiosity is ingrained in each one of us and as educators we have the power to foster that curiosity or squash it down. What I will bring into my classroom is providing students the chance to investigate, discuss and make mistakes. This program is so applicable to this facet of classroom ideology by giving us the tools to put the learning back in the students' hands through lessons that incorporate creation and independent thinking. Hyperdocs and other digital tools help to expand this but by no means are meant to be stand alone items. Much like a recent email from ISTE stated in the heading, Discover how to lead with learning, not tech.
1 Comment
Emily Feil
7/10/2018 11:14:36 pm
I absolutely agree that our real mission is to teach students to be lifelong learners. The content we teach is just a vehicle for the real skills of inquiry, critical thinking, etc. Your description of student-centered education is just what they will need in order to continue learning once they are done with their formal education.
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AuthorHello, I'm Joe. Welcome to writings about my thought process throughout the journey of Touro's Innovative Learning Graduate Program. Archives
July 2018
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