What is a teacher?

As future teachers, we go through years and years of school and learn all about what we, as a teacher, as expected to teach. Multiple grades, various subjects, Knows, Dos and Bes, life skills like holding a pencil and communicating with others, and literacy skills that stretch far beyond just knowing how to read and write. This list of what teachers are expected to teach to their students could go on and on forever. Are we, as teachers, expected to be an expert on every single topic? If you ask a young child, they will say yes, but in reality, the answer is no way!

 

 

I found an excellent video that explains what teachers are (see above). Never once did it say that teachers need to know everything or be perfect. However, teachers do need to be motivated, positive and passionate about learning and growth. This passion about learning and growth got me thinking…aren’t teachers also students? Ironically, I had a personal example of this last weekend. One of my gymnasts was very excited to tell her friends that she bought her first communion dress. This sparked comments from the other girls about how many communion dresses they tried on until they bought one, and how excited they were to go to the church with their school. After this conversation, another one of the girls in the group came up and asked me what a first communion was. Although I had a good idea of what a first communion is, I never went to a catholic school and therefore I have never attended one. Instead of trying to give her half an answer that would not be complete or necessarily accurate, I decided to instead ask one of the girls who had already had a communion. She was more than happy to explain, and gave a much more thorough answer than I could have ever given. Not only did the children learn something, but I learned a lot too. In those 5 minutes I learned a lot because I asked an expert, and it did not matter that the expert happened to be a grade three student. I am glad I had this learning opportunity for the gymnasts but also for myself.

So, how does this connect to the literacies?  It is likely that we, as future teachers, would not consider ourselves complete experts on every single literacy. So, how can we be the ‘experts’ that the children expect us to be, when we do not feel like experts ourselves?  I am going to propose a few different ways to be confident in teaching skills that we are not experts on, but this is just a small, general sample of what you can do.

 

First, like I did, you can ASK AN EXPERT. This may be an expert from the community, such as a professor, a teacher who feels more skilled, or a parent. This also could include a person who works in one of the professions, such as a banker discussing financial literacy, someone who works in an Ontario park to talk about environmental literacy, or someone from a media company to discuss advertisements. It is important to note that these people do not have to be professionals…a few months ago my younger brother, who is currently a college student, was asked to Skype into a high school classroom in British Columbia to discuss how he advertises online to sell music he creates in his bedroom-turned-music-studio. Do not be afraid for asking for help!

Next, you can BECOME AN EXPERT. However, I would recommend that you are intrinsically motivated to learn, otherwise the results will be less desirable for both you and your student. Thankfully, with literacies, there are so many different facets in each literacy that every teacher is bound to feel interested in or personally connected to at least one aspect!

 

Most importantly, ENJOY THE JOURNEY. Work with your students and enjoy the give and take. Disregard beliefs that you must know everything, and teach with a love of learning for you and your students.

 

Did you know that by creating a lesson, you will be using 21^st century literacy skills? Deciding what to teach and how to teach it, especially if you are using innovative lessons, involve critical literacy. Digital literacy can be used anytime a computer or other form of technology is used to search up sample activities or lessons other teachers have used. And, the moral literacy of the teacher will be used as they decide what is or is not something that they believe to be important and appropriate for students to learn. I bet you didn’t even realize how often you use some of these skills…maybe you are more of an expert than you thought! This allows you to be a role model for students, and by explaining what you are doing and your process, you are explaining part of the 21^st century literacy skills.

 

So, the main point of this blog post is that you will make an amazing teacher! Knowing every single thing is not possible, but having an open, positive attitude towards learning is possible! Learn with your students and colleagues around you. Even though your lectures in university may be done, that doesn’t mean you stop learning. So what is a teacher? A great teacher is MANY different things, but one of those things is that a teacher is not an expert, but they are a student who never stops learning!