A Teacher Is Like A...

A teacher is like a one-man band, in today's world.  We play so may different roles in our classrooms at once, so that it creates a melody.  We play the role of a performer, trying to engage our students to make sure that they are involved in their own learning.  Creating a spark of interest that motivates them to continue learning on a day to day basis.  What we try to instill in our students is the fact that learning isn't just about today, but it's about tomorrow.  As Siemens (2005), stresses in his article on Connectivism, "learning is a continual process, lasting for a lifetime."  The learning shouldn't stop, once the student leaves your classroom... it should keep on going.  As teachers, we need to form those connections to what lies beyond the classroom, in order to show our students the importance of what they are learning in school.  This whole idea of of learning "must be a way of being--an ongoing set of attitudes and actions by individuals and groups..." (Vaill, 1996).

 

Teachers keep the learning current (up-to-date) for their students... showing them how what they are learning is practical and meaningful.  Therefore, a teacher needs to ensure that they are constantly learning themselves, and networking, as Siemens states, is a great and easy way of doing so.  Whether through blogging or other social networks, "learning in a network creation process," as said by Siemens himself in The Network is the Learning.  As a teacher of today, you want to ensure that you are staying current and continuing to learn, so that your students receive the best and most beneficial education.  We are a network of people; it's no longer just about the individual.  Rather, it's about what we can learn from one another, and how adding "a node (person, resource, etc.) to a network increases the entire network exponentially" (Siemens).  Where one benefits, we all benefit.