Writing about my reasons for learning Welsh recently, one I set aside was “to be a student” because I wanted a bit more space to pick it over. As teachers and educators I have no doubt that it’s necessary for us to be learning all of the time, in all sorts of ways. But I think there’s also value in being playing the rôle of student in a formal learning scenario to remember how that feels.
When I was teaching 22 hours of classes a week, I used to think “I wish I was a student again” because I thought the experience of being a teacher had showed me exactly how I could improve. All these 16 and 17 year olds were making elementary mistakes that I recognised, because I’d made them myself when I was 16 and 17. These kids put huge amounts of effort into justifying doing the minimum they could, or less, if they put the same kind of effort into learning I believed they could achieve a great deal. When I saw a way of taking a year to become a full time student, and study a masters, I seized it. I thought I could be a great student… Continue reading “Learners and Teachers”