Life long learners and life long teachers

Darren Draper at Drape's Takes has written an excellent post about lifelong learners and weaker teachers. He provides a great quote from Michael Pressley:

Let me tell you about one of the most consistent findings in our interviews of teachers over the years. It is always the most effective teachers who have told us that they have much more to learn. They are always the ones seeking the professional development. The weaker teachers are often very confident that they already teach well. So, I think that rather than simply providing professional development, it may be necessary to select teachers who know they need to get better and are open to getting better, actively seeking ways to do so. (p. 6)

What I like about Darren's original post and his eloquent comment is that he is not afraid to say what we need to hear: We may have proved ourselves to be lifelong learners and not just lifelong teachers. We read and blog because we believe this. But, we are an echo chamber discussing the same things. Not being inventive and innovate and thinking and blogging about the students we profess to care about. I think we are all guilty and jump at conversations and beat them to death. When innovators (I would put Darren here) have something to say we blog and discuss to no end.

Now that I am comfortable with what I have learned, what will I do now to continue to learn?

• Break out of the echo chamber and search for information outside of my field.
• Discuss what others are saying only to record for my own benefit.
• Understand that lifelong learners may be there, just not discussing what everyone else is.
  

Are you a lifelong learner just because you blog about what everyone is talking about? Or are you a lifelong learner when you continually take yourself out of your comfort zone?

Tags: darrendraper, teachers, learning