All my life I knew I wanted to be a teacher. Here I am in the last portion of my schooling at BYU to become an Elementary School Teacher. When I sat in classes, I honestly never understood the relevance of what I was being taught. Why did it matter if I knew how a kid developed and grew? Why did I need to know all the theories that had been disproven about child development? What did it matter when it came to learning how to teach kids how to read? Teaching to me was something everyone could do. Everyone can be a teacher, right?
But today I realized something. I no longer want to be a teacher. I want to be a leader, a mentor, a facilitator, a guide, an educator. It's not all about opening up the kids' brains and dumping everything possible into it. I really have been thinking a lot about what it is really about. Education is really about becoming a learner.
Why did we start schools in the first place? To educate ourselves so that we could learn more, and more, and more, and more, and more. Learning never ends! As humans, our brains seek that learning and have that natural curiosity. You can see that in a child who always asks "Why?" When we get older, it's not that our curiosity is gone--it's just stifled. We can only let our curiosity and urge for learning out in acceptable ways. What I mean by acceptable ways is that we only let ourselves wander as far as society has wandered.
Yet, we seek to always progress, be the best, and be on top. How else do we progress without learning? (Well, there is cheating... but technically you still need to learn more about being a good cheater ;)) I could go on and on and on about how life is all about learning. Sometimes I think as an adult that I've got it made and I know everything there is to know. I think that up until one of my students comes up and says, "Mrs. Lyon, did you know that...?" and then spouts off some brilliant fact or new idea.
Kids are not information buckets. We don't just fill their heads with information like our teachers did. We help them become a learner. In my class, we don't just teach math, we LEARN math. We critically think. We realize why math exists. We understand why 2+2 is 4. We know what it means to divide, to subtract, multiply, and add. We have LEARNED math.
The same thing goes for everything in life. You never come to a point where you have learned everything there is to know. And that is what makes life so frustrating. Just when you think you've perfected it--it all comes tumbling down. As a teacher, I know that all too well. No matter how many times my lessons have worked, there is always one time that my students find a loophole and my genius lesson comes crashing down around me.
So the moral of this lesson is to be a learner, not a teacher. My job isn't to teach kids anything but how to learn. I simply enhance their learning by adding to what they have learned in the past. It's not about the core or the test or grades. It's about being a learner. The common core, tests, and other things are our attempts at measuring learning. Sadly, our tests fail at measuring the amount of learning that actually happens.
Learning means being...
...a sometimes failure.
...a risk taker.
...uncertain.
...weak.
...honest with yourself.
...willing.
...open.
...an explorer.
...determined.
...unstoppable.
...limitless.
...free.
And overall...a glorious success.
Next time you go to teach someone (yourself, your child, your spouse, anyone)--think about them as a learner, not as void that needs to be filled. Think less about an empty bucket that needs to be filled. Think more about a light that can shine as far as we will let it.
Humans are natural lights in a dark world. As we share our light and spread our light around, we LEARN. That's how we understand our environment, how we adapt to living, how we become who we are.
We all have limitless potential to be a learner. But in small instances, our light is dimmed, blocked, broken, and battered as we are told what we are and are not capable of. Most of the time the things that cast the biggest shadows are fear and doubt. Don't be the person to stifle someone's light just because of doubt or fear. Don't stifle your own light either.
So let me ask you this. If a person's ability to learn is limitless, isn't their worth just as infinite?
But today I realized something. I no longer want to be a teacher. I want to be a leader, a mentor, a facilitator, a guide, an educator. It's not all about opening up the kids' brains and dumping everything possible into it. I really have been thinking a lot about what it is really about. Education is really about becoming a learner.
Why did we start schools in the first place? To educate ourselves so that we could learn more, and more, and more, and more, and more. Learning never ends! As humans, our brains seek that learning and have that natural curiosity. You can see that in a child who always asks "Why?" When we get older, it's not that our curiosity is gone--it's just stifled. We can only let our curiosity and urge for learning out in acceptable ways. What I mean by acceptable ways is that we only let ourselves wander as far as society has wandered.
Yet, we seek to always progress, be the best, and be on top. How else do we progress without learning? (Well, there is cheating... but technically you still need to learn more about being a good cheater ;)) I could go on and on and on about how life is all about learning. Sometimes I think as an adult that I've got it made and I know everything there is to know. I think that up until one of my students comes up and says, "Mrs. Lyon, did you know that...?" and then spouts off some brilliant fact or new idea.
Kids are not information buckets. We don't just fill their heads with information like our teachers did. We help them become a learner. In my class, we don't just teach math, we LEARN math. We critically think. We realize why math exists. We understand why 2+2 is 4. We know what it means to divide, to subtract, multiply, and add. We have LEARNED math.
The same thing goes for everything in life. You never come to a point where you have learned everything there is to know. And that is what makes life so frustrating. Just when you think you've perfected it--it all comes tumbling down. As a teacher, I know that all too well. No matter how many times my lessons have worked, there is always one time that my students find a loophole and my genius lesson comes crashing down around me.
So the moral of this lesson is to be a learner, not a teacher. My job isn't to teach kids anything but how to learn. I simply enhance their learning by adding to what they have learned in the past. It's not about the core or the test or grades. It's about being a learner. The common core, tests, and other things are our attempts at measuring learning. Sadly, our tests fail at measuring the amount of learning that actually happens.
Learning means being...
...a sometimes failure.
...a risk taker.
...uncertain.
...weak.
...honest with yourself.
...willing.
...open.
...an explorer.
...determined.
...unstoppable.
...limitless.
...free.
And overall...a glorious success.
Next time you go to teach someone (yourself, your child, your spouse, anyone)--think about them as a learner, not as void that needs to be filled. Think less about an empty bucket that needs to be filled. Think more about a light that can shine as far as we will let it.
Humans are natural lights in a dark world. As we share our light and spread our light around, we LEARN. That's how we understand our environment, how we adapt to living, how we become who we are.
We all have limitless potential to be a learner. But in small instances, our light is dimmed, blocked, broken, and battered as we are told what we are and are not capable of. Most of the time the things that cast the biggest shadows are fear and doubt. Don't be the person to stifle someone's light just because of doubt or fear. Don't stifle your own light either.
So let me ask you this. If a person's ability to learn is limitless, isn't their worth just as infinite?
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