LEARNING
PRODUCTIVITY
Wingspread Journal, Summer 1997
WHAT IF...TEACHERS ARE
ALSO LEARNERS?
by Susan J. Poulsen,
The Johnson Foundation
We must become the change we seek in the world.
These words were spoken by one of the world's greatest
teachers, a person without certification or credentials,
a simple man who never took part in an in-service,
yet led a nation to freedom. The man was Gandhi.
While Gandhi's words were not directed toward classroom
teachers specifically, the spirit of his philosophy
is nowhere more appropriate than in the role of teachers
and the creation of learning environments that will
help young people prepare themselves for life in the
21st century.
Volumes have been written about change in schools
and in the roles of teachers; about setting high standards
for student achievement; about teacher preparation,
licensing, certification, and accreditation. Educators
at all levels are coming to the realization that it
is impossible to teach all that is known, that attempts
at coverage of academic material are the death knoll
of teaching, and that learning how to learn is the
most important task of students and teachers alike.
In order for teachers to be effective in helping their
students become self-directed lifelong learners, however,
it is imperative that these teachers attend to their
own needs for lifelong learning.
Conference Invites Teachers
to be Learners
A Wingspread conference in early 1997 afforded 35
veteran teachers an opportunity to do just that. Teachers
from independent schools throughout the Midwest focused
on ways to enhance learning productivity in their
classrooms, schools, and their lives. They learned
about brain research, and innovative teaching approaches
like problem-based learning. They not only listened,
they became students and problem-solvers: they exchanged
stories with one another, reflected on their learning
-- alone and in groups -- and made plans to share
their learning back home.
First in the group's list of action recommendations
was to promote the concept that, in order to be good
teachers, educators must continue to be good learners.
More Than In-Service is
Needed
For decades school districts have paid lip service
to the role of professional development, offering
teachers professional development opportunities that
usually mirror the kinds of text and lecture techniques
that teachers employ in their own classrooms. The
term learner has chiefly been used in relation to
students, not teachers.
What is needed, instead, is a transformation in attitude.
If teachers are to play the lead role in effectively
helping students become self-directed learners, they
must first embrace learning as their primary function:
they must learn how they themselves learn and how
they in turn can create learning environments.
Just as high-performance corporations have built
learning into the jobs of their key professionals,
schools must also become learning enterprises making
new time available for teachers to learn, and acknowledging
the value of learning, peer support, and reflection.
As teachers embrace their own learning and growth,
they can become the catalysts for change throughout
their entire organizations.
Are Teachers Also Learners?
Recently the National Commission on Teaching &
America's Future released its recommendations in a
report, What Matters Most: Teaching for Americas
Future. The report calls for a dramatic departure
from the status quo -- one that creates a new infrastructure
for professional learning and an accountability system
that ensures attention to standards for educators
as well as students at every level: national, state,
local school district, school, and classroom. The
report offers five recommendations to address these
concerns and accomplish their goal:
1. Get serious about standards, for both students
and teachers.
2. Re-invent teacher preparation and professional
development.
3. Fix teacher recruitment and put qualified teachers
in every classroom.
4. Encourage and reward teacher knowledge and skill.
5. Create schools that are organized for student
and teacher success.
There is no question that policies such as those
called for in these recommendations are crucial policies
that encourage and reward teacher learning, that make
learning a high priority for teachers and students
alike, and perhaps most important, that make time
for teachers and students to learn individually and
collectively. These initiatives are worthy of support,
but at the heart of educational transformation is
that spirit, that love of learning that can only come
from within. It is what happens when we live Gandhi's
words and become the change we seek.
For Additional Reading
Teachers Take Charge of Their Learning: Transforming
Professional Development for Student Success,
The National Foundation for the Improvement of Education
(NFIE), Washington, DC, 1996. Copies available from
NFIE Publications, P.O. Box 509, West Haven, Conn.
06516, tel.: 203-934-2669.
What Matters Most: Teaching for America's Future,
report of the National Commission on Teaching &
America's Future, Linda Darling-Hammond, director.
The report, as well as a video and discussion guide,
may be ordered from the Commission at P.O. Box 5239,
Woodbridge, Va, 22194. For information on bulk rates
call 212-678-3015.
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