Thursday 15 March 2018

Data with Purpose, Teaching as Intervention

I've decided I'm quite fed up with a much quoted false dichotomy: -" A teacher is a guide on the side not a sage on the stage".

I've decided a teacher is neither.  A teacher is a teacher. Teaching is an intervention. Its not just a business where we guide our learners through different stages of development.
If we want and need to get acceleration in learning to the tune of 1.5 years progress in 1 year, we need learning design to be understood as an intentional, focused, evidence based intervention. This is the guts of what teaching is: -understanding where a learner is at, what they already know, what they need to know next and in a highly engaging and relational way, nudging, chivvying, cajoling, demanding that they make their best effort to achieve it.

This is not a guide on the side, -neither is it a sage on the stage, (perish the thought), it's a TEACHER!