Three key learnings after 26 years of teaching

A year ago I was ready to quit my job. At the end of May, 2015, I submitted my resignation deciding to move forward rather than to quit. Having the superintendent give me a parting hug was an affirming send off.

There is much that I have learned over the years about the praxis of teaching and about my role as teacher, mentor and learner. In the last five years, I have studied deeply what learning is. Why school? What should/could one learn? How does one learn? What does it actually mean to learn?

I completed a master’s thesis documenting the students’ and my learning with alternative perspectives. My conclusion is the same as many other noted educators: a learning revolution is required. Students are hungry for meaningful learning and meaningful contribution to their communities.

The most important resources in education are the people: students, parents, teachers, administrators, trustees and connected community. A curriculum, program, technology or ideology is empty without a caring, competent staff. A healthy emotional intelligence is key to learning and living well.

I have been an eager leader in alternative approaches to learning and have loved sharing in the engagement of the students in their learning. There is much that I have learned.

Three key learnings stand out:

1. We must constantly focus and build on the strengths of others rather than on their weaknesses.
    
2. Critical thinking starts with why and accepting that knowing is a part of a cycle, which includes not-knowing. It is out of uncertainty and not-knowing that questions are born.
   
3. To care for students is to care about what we ask them to do. The caring should result in the strengthening of the uniqueness of the individual, the growth of his/her emotional intelligence, and his/her development within community.