Reflection: The Role of the Educator
“There are two things that kids invariably tell you about their favorite professors. The first one is “she teaches about everything.” That’s never literally true, of course, so what does it actually mean? Great teachers, as Andrew Hacker and Claudia Dreifus remark, are not bound by disciplinary ideas of what they’re allowed to say. They connect the material at hand, in a way that feels spacious and free, with anything to which it might be relevant. They connect it to experience, and so they shed light on experience—on your experience. Just as great art gives you the feeling of being about “life”—about all of it at once—so does great teaching. The boundaries come down, and somehow you are thinking about yourself and the world at the same time, thinking and feeling at the same time, and instead of seeing things as separate parts, you see them as a whole. It doesn’t matter what the subject is. ”
Instructions
As we explore the Catalyst Approach we will reframe the role of the educators. Consider the following statements:
“The uncomfortable truth for many educators is that we are no longer uniquely valuable as sources of information, insight, and knowledge.” Knowledge on any topic is freely accessible in an instant. The “what” of what students learn is therefore considerably less important than the “how” and the “why”.
Educators are in the unique position to remove limits of what students think they know and critically engage a vision of what could happen, or be true.
Educators can facilitate critical engagement through the bringing together of ideas through engaging framing of problems.
The level of expertise required to create using any particular craft approach and apply it to any domain of complex problems and applied skills is very low.
Experiential learning supports going deep rather than wide. There are human resources in every community with the knowledge and skill to go deep. It is the role of the educator to gather focus of students.
Approach and methodology need not be similar in fact they ought not be similar. What we are giving students through Catalyst is a multiplicity of approaches to process. The educator is the coach for the process, and the critic (mentor, outside partner, etc) brings different viewpoints for processes. Educators model process - after a number of projects students begin to develop their own set of tools their own language for approach and their own ability to decide what creative approach is best for them in a particular situation
Now, answer the following questions in a comment response below. Be prepared to discuss these with your ED Manager.
How has your teaching changed as the accessibility of information and tools has exploded (google, ChatGPT, etc.)? Has this been intentional or reactive?
How do you integrate interdisciplinary approaches in your teaching? How would you like to?
How have you found ways to mentor or coach individual students within the context of your classroom? Which type of students do you typically form these relationships with? How can you support yourself in developing more coaching/mentor relationships?
