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Evolving Roles

So there is tons of writing and speaking about the evolving role of the teacher. If I hear the terminology "sage on the stage" or "guide on the side"used again I may throw up. I completely believe in this evolution, I'm just tired of hearing the same line about it.

A similar sort of catch phrase came up a while back in a department meeting with our technology department. At a conference a colleague of mine said a speaker was talking about using their technology to empower users (in this case teachers) to do things themselves - installing plug-ins, free software or items we have a site license for. "Think of yourself as a facilitator, not an administrator" the speaker said. In technology, teaching, professional development and I'd imagine in many other careers I have no idea about, we need to help people help themselves. As we move beyond may I Google that for you at the intersections of teaching and technology we need to make sure we don't just snicker, but show them HOW to do it. It's easy to be Jimmy Fallon's computer guy caricature, but easier in the long run if we teach them. I know, you get the same question from the same people over and over, but we have to start somewhere.

The other day I read this story, as most did about the 25 billion app downloads. We get a lot of questions about do we know about an app for X subject? Off hand, rarely. And how can we keep up with apps or all the ever-changing web technologies? We can only share the stuff that works for us, kick the wheels on ones we read about and help find things that match up with their needs.

The bottom line is all of our jobs are changing. If we still fancy ourselves as all-knowing experts we need to realize we have to give that up. We can't possibly keep up. We all need to make sure we're in the people business. If we are are just focused on the content of our career, we're setting ourselves up for failure/outsourcing.

The relationships we build, the people we help is value we bring to our organizations. That is more valuable then knowing where that check box is in System Preferences/Control Panel or what's the web-based productivity suite du jour (other than Google Docs of course).
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  1. Doug JohnsonMarch 8, 2012 at 6:01 AM

    Hi Nathan,

    Thanks for the post. I always enjoy your thoughts.

    If you haven't read it, find Seth Godin's Stop Stealing Dreams (what is school for?) Godin nails how schools and teachers need to change in the post-industrial world. Reading your thoughts, I think you'll find it supportive.

    Doug

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