We Pay Too Much Attention to Teaching

The traditional system pays too much attention on teaching and not enough attention on learning.

I was privileged to work for and with Rod Paige. In fact, Dr. Paige was the superintendent who selected me for my first principalship. Paige went on to serve President George W. Bush as his first Secretary of Education.

Paige used to tell us as principals that “without learning, there is no teaching.” The traditional system doesn’t understand this.

Witness a recent article which appeared in EducationWeek online. The article, “25 Reasons to Get Excited About Teaching” was authored by Louie F. Rodriguez, a professor and the Bank of America Chair of Education Leadership, Policy, and Practice in the School of Education at the University of California at Riverside.

I thought it would be nice to contrast Rodriguez’s teacher-centered commentary with 25 reasons to get excited about learner-centered education. TC denotes Rodriguez’s offerings, while LC are my contributions.

Here we go:

TC – Build a meaningful connection with a student.

LC – Build meaningful connections with a group of learners.

TC – Prioritize a student’s humanity.

LC – Build a culture of humanity with a group of learners.

TC – Allow students to reinvent themselves every single day.

LC – Allow learners to learn how to reinvent themselves every single day.

TC – Exercise maximum flexibility, especially as we continue to navigate the pandemic.

LC – Empower learners to use time and space to support deep learning.

TC – Recognize the collective trauma from No. 4 and its ongoing impact on just “being,” not only for students, but for teachers and families as well.

LC – Empower learners to reflect, learn, grieve, and survive events like the pandemic and other traumas.

TC – Be a teacher who gives students second, third, and fourth chances.

LC – Be a learning coach who believes in “not yet” when it comes to learning.

TC – Reduce past systemic harm once the student enters your classroom by promoting equity-driven practices.

LC – Remind young learners that equity begins with a personalized learning plan.

TC – Build community with your fellow teachers in your school, district, and/or community.

LC – Build community with your fellow learners in your school, district, and/or community.

TC – Establish a partnership with families, especially those who have struggled to build such partnerships in the past.

LC – Invited families to build a learning plan with their young learner.

TC – Spark an interest in learning for the seemingly disengaged student.

LC – Ask the disengaged learner, “What would you like to learn today?”

TC – Recognize the leadership qualities in that one student who needed to hear the words, “You are a leader.”

LC – Develop leadership qualities in all your young learners.

TC – Provide students with an intentional space for hearing their voices in the classroom.

LC – Learning coaches work for their young learners, and each learner’s voice is contained inside their personalized learning plans.

TC – Inspire students by showing them who they were, who they are, and where they are going.

LC – Coach learners to own their own learning.

TC – Show students their community’s excellence.

LC – Allow learners to learn inside their communities, i.e. the community is the young learner’s classroom.

TC – Redefine what educational excellence looks like in students’ various communities (peers, families, communities, society).

LC – Utilize peers, families, communities, and society to fulfill a young learner’s learning plan.

TC – Reflect back to your students their historical, cultural, and community contributions.

LC – Encourage your learners to embed themselves in their history, culture, and community.

TC – Be the one teacher who your students look forward to seeing every day.

LC – Be one of many learning coaches learners look forward to learning from every day.

TC – Provide your students with instruction that validates their life experiences.

LC – Begin with a young learner’s life experiences when building their own learning plan.

TC – Create pedagogical activities that (re)position students as teachers and facilitators of learning.

LC – Build learning plans that allow young learners to own their own learning so that they can design their own learning plans moving forward.

TC – Redefine “knowledge” with your students; students are indeed creators of knowledge.

LC – Allow your young learners to include “production” inside their personalized learning plans.

TC – Model equitable practices in the classroom; equity is more than a principle but is also an action.

LC – Personalized learning plans allow for learner equity.

TC – Center carino (care) within the educational endeavor.

LC – Build relationships that last.

TC – Forge hope for students in your classroom every single day.

LC – Provide quality feedback to your young learners which, in turn, will build hopefulness inside them.

TC – Wake up every single day knowing that you will make a difference in the life of a student.

LC – Wake up every single day knowing that you, as a learning coach, will help young learners learn how to learn.

TC – Realize the promise of public schooling every single day through your teaching and dedication.

LC – It’s about the learner; it’s not about you.

See the difference.

When Rod Paige was a school superintendent, he visited my new school on the first day of school. After the tour, as he as getting into his car, he looked at me and said,

“We didn’t spend $50 million building this school for adults. Schools are for kids.”

I’ve never forgotten that.

Sadly, teaching has become more about adult activities, whereas everyone knows learning is about kids.

It seems we have a current system of public education that seems more interested in teaching than learning.

Sad. Very sad.

Til tomorrow. SVB