Actually Letting the True Authorities Teach…A New Approach to Professional Development.
I ran across this on one of my new favorite blogs the other day and knew it needed to be shared. The blog is called “Dangerously Irrelevant” and I’m really loving the posts and the comments. I know you’ll love it too, so definitely check it out.
The post that sparked my interest had to do with our students delivering professional development to our teachers. This builds on a previous thought that we’ve heard from Alan November before…always include students in training and conferences. There is absolutely no reason why this idea shouldn’t be a way larger part of what we do. As the posts says, when it quotes Tapscott & Williams’ Wikinomics (2006), “this is the first time in human history when children are authorities on something really important (p. 47).” I don’t care who you are, what you do or teach in your school district, how long you’ve been teaching, or whatever other issue you have with this point…it’s true…period. The post I’m talking about is here.
As the post says as well, getting over the fear/anxiety/denial/etc. that your students may know more about a certain subject (in this case technology) is a tough step as a professional, but it’s a crucial one. As the post says, “All we have to do is walk away from our egos and our fear and embrace our mission statements, the ones that say that we all should be learners and say nothing about from whom we must learn.”
Do the right thing and let the real experts teach. You might just be surprised at what you learn and how that affects your learning environment. Just see where things go from there…
