Saturday, March 21, 2009

Teaching +1

I am constantly realizing that teaching is so much more than just standing up in front of a classroom and delivering content (I know that is the old style of learning, but just stick with me here). Teaching is all the grading, preparation, planning, yes I know that. But teaching is so much more…it’s like teaching +1.

So I left to go back to Iowa for the whole Prensky situation and another thought that occurred to me while I was on the plane was that teachers are not only teachers. They are CSAP proctors, student organization advisors, coaches, counselors, writers, learners, presenters, friends, parents, and so much more. I am talking about the iceberg and Titanic example here, but more so the definition of a “teacher” does not even begin to come close to what teachers do on a regular basis. I know that other professions have a lot of responsibilities, but honestly teachers probably have the longest list of “other duties as assigned / volunteered for / asked to do” that I have other seen.

At the same time, it is that long list of other things that makes teachers and teaching exactly what it is today – no longer do we just deliver content, we teach and then some.