Why children need expert educators with novice perspectives

if we grow up

why can’t we grow down after all this

term is linked to one’s mentality

now a physicality and the expression

itself

is surrounded by such positive

connotations

as opposed to its opposite and we know

this because at some point when we’re

growing up

many of us had that adult turn around

and look down at us and say

you need to grow up i just love it just

once

if a child turned around looked up at

the adult

and with a confident but sweet voice

said

really do you think the tune that needs

to you know grow down

because after all it’s perspective we’re

talking about here

and in these situations it’s the adult

that owns it

but what happens when that perspective

is deceiving

what then for the child

now i’m not here to suggest that we

should kick off the shackles of

adulthood

and embrace the chaos of childhood go

order the flies

what i am advocating though is that for

those of us

who work most closely with children

namely teachers

that we continue to seek out and explore

ways that allow us

to experience and see the world as

children do

to counter two grown-up dynamics that

have problematic

for an educator’s mindset

age and expertise

sounds ludicrous doesn’t it that these

two attributes can in any way

be detrimental to one’s teaching

but let’s go back to the beginning let’s

go back to our childhood

because as children we operate mostly as

novices

that’s what childhood’s all about an

endless series of novice experiences

filled with uncertainty and trepidation

as we try

things for the first time and fail

or really really struggle

and as we grow up these experiences tend

to dwindle

to the point of never and that was

certainly the case for me

until i arrived on the shores of norway

just under six years ago

and once again took up the reigns of

novice hood

you see when you move to a new country

there’s always that group of people who

tell you

you need to embrace the culture i felt

fantastic

the viking spirit no queuing

no pleaser thank yous brown cheese

lots of candles and of course winter

sports

so i kind of let my ego get the better

of me i said i’m going to do what i

think is cool

forget skiing i’m going to snowboard i

mean

i pictured myself on the mountains

twisting and turning with grace as i

maneuvered that snowboard

the norwegian air flint across my face

a man in control of the elements

with me on that first day was my

norwegian wife

my two boys and my brother-in-law

all wearing skis and not looking as cool

as me

as i stood there with authority

certainty

and confidence i looked the part

and i thought surely that’s half the

battle

so i walked towards the slopes i was

overcome with a sense of giddiness

until i came face to face

with what for a short time i described

as a weapon

of mass destruction

now do not let appearances be deceiving

this device has the ability to instantly

destroy someone’s confidence

to humiliate and to embarrass it can

strike fear

and anxiety into the strongest of wills

and it can make any adult in any

professional sphere

once again understand what it feels like

to be a novice again

so there i was watching his contraption

propel my two boys up the mountain

my turn the blonde swedish attendant

asked me to take hold of the t-bar

i smiled told myself you can do this

you’ve got this and i did do it

for approximately three meters

the blonde swedish attendant came

running to my head he had this

sympathetic smile on his face

i sensed the people in the queue going

in behind me and imagined them thinking

ah is either danish or english

alas not to be discouraged let’s try

again

six meters again

ten meters again five meters

the only thing i was actually succeeding

at at this point in time

was looking like i was feeling well

underneath i was a bubbly mess of

frustration

with just a hint of anger

how was i meant to snowboard if i

couldn’t even get to the top of the

mountain

or small hill in most norwegians eyes

step four with my brother-in-law one

meter

92 in height

fair hair chiseled muscular build

now some people say that norwegians are

born with skis on their feet

in his case he’s snow jumped out of his

mother’s womb on taylormax keys

what’s worse he’s everyone’s best friend

a lovely guy and man crushes her common

occurrence

so there i was baby bambi on ice

the eternal novice stood next to

an adult simba in his natural habitat

the epitome of expertise the ultimate

viking i can tell you now

i really did feel pretty pretty

inadequate

so i wrapped my arms around him as he

took confidently hold of the t-bar

and we were propelled up the mountain

and this was many moments like that my

snowboarding journey

that were filled with uncertainty and

repeated failure

and frustration

and that was the first time in decades

at the ripe old age of 40 i once again

encountered that novice experience

an experience i thought had left in the

past in my childhood

before i grew up and

it was it was an adventure filled with

humility and desperation

it was really really hard there was no

foundations to build upon

and it took time and effort

and you know i can imagine that’s

definitely not on most adults bucket

lists i mean

why would it be we’ve spent a lifetime

gravitating from

these novice experiences we want to feel

comfortable

confident and to imagine that we’ve got

some form of

semblance of control and actually that’s

largely down to neurological reasons

because as we get older as opposed to

old

we do prefer stability over change

and that’s not necessarily a good thing

for teachers

now it’s reassuring to know that the

adult mind is slightly more flexible and

volatile than we once thought

it’s still less malleable than a younger

brain

so rewriting and reconnecting all those

synapses is much harder as we get older

and consequently participating

in new authentic novice experiences

is to a large extent no longer appealing

to us

we just don’t want to do it

and that’s a problem you see

these experiences can give us a valuable

insight into the learning journey

that many our children go through on a

day-to-day basis

one filled with frustration repeated

failure

and uncertainty

and this experience and this insight is

needed now more than ever

in an educational climate with a growing

expectation our profession

for teacher expertise

something which is potentially going to

distance us even further

from a child’s mindset i mean let’s just

take a moment to think about that

child adult

it’s a pretty big gulf exacerbated by

the knowledge gap

between a novice and an expert

so as teachers we need to find ways to

minimize that distance

while at the same time developing our

expertise

because as teachers we should be experts

with a responsibility to continue to

upskill

because we work with the most precious

resource on earth

our children

now the children i teach will disagree

with me

they’ll say come on sir the most

precious resource i know if it’s surely

a mobile phone

and the parents of those children i

teach will probably say some form of

concoction

that offers them more me time or more

sleep

but my thinking here largely revolves

around the idea that the future of our

world

largely depends on what our children

make of it

they are our tomorrows

so what do we do the most precious

resource on earth

we place it in the hands of experts

take uranium another precious resource

and the potential to be a weapon of mass

destruction

just not quite as dangerous as the tea

bar

we want the best people working with it

harnessing its power to do good

in a safe and caring environment

we want people at the top of their

fields

likewise the same should be said for our

children

so in one hand we want teachers with

expert subject knowledge

with the ability to tackle

misconceptions and to organize ideas

and at no point should a ceiling be

placed on a child’s academic development

because of a teacher’s own limited

knowledge that just can’t happen it’s a

non-negotiable

yeah pertz on the other hand

education is deeply relational it’s

about human connection

and while it’s the fluffy abstract part

of the process

educators the world over will advocate

that

student teacher relationships are key to

a child’s

academic success

as teachers we have to build trust with

the children we teach

they have to trust that we care for them

support them

and understand them and most importantly

that we can see the learning through

their eyes

both cognitively and emotionally

as novices yet this very relationship

is in jeopardy by our need to function

as experts

because our expert perspective is

deceiving

as experts when information on knowledge

is easily accessible to us

we form the impression that the same

happens for others

even children somewhere along the line

it’s crazy in our

in our journey in life we’ve forgotten

that our decision-making process

is based upon millions and millions of

experienced moments

that allow us to form answers or see the

bigger pitch in a matter of milliseconds

this process as we have a rubbish

ramifications for the children we teach

you see although we recognize that a

child doesn’t understand

or they can’t do something this is key

we think this should i just wonder

how many times this situation arises in

any given classroom

in any given school on any given day

and at what cost because in those

moments

where we recognize the child doesn’t

understand or think it should

do we wear our thinking in our facial

expression

in our tone of voice or even

in the language we use

and what’s more to what extent does this

process shape our thinking

towards the children we teach do we look

outward as opposed to inward do we

somehow

think that the problem lies elsewhere in

the abyss

as opposed to our own perspective

on our own teaching

have we lost the ability to see through

the lens of those we seek more to

develop

our children

you see expertise has the potential to

simultaneously

be both be a blessing and a curse for

those seeking to develop others

we need to find a balance to our

expertise

and one of the ways we can do that is by

fighting our age and mindset

and growing down

i feel when i remember so when the dark

side

of expertise manifests itself in my

classroom context

the t-bar is no longer a weapon of mass

destruction

it reconnects me with the novice

experience

it prompts me to try and understand the

learning through the novice lens

the lens more often than not our

children were in the classroom

now i am actually happy to report i can

snowboard with some grace down the

mountain

and i have chosen to undertake new

novice experiences

in the form of cross-country skiing and

learning to play the guitar

and what these experiences have taught

me and remind me of

is that sometimes it’s necessary for us

to go

backwards as educators

to help children move forward

we need to grow down

if our experiences determine our outlook

if we are the sum total of our

experiences

then perhaps we should think wisely

about our choices

i urge you to choose novice experiences

i can guarantee

they will be frustrating annoying

humbling

but they’ll be worth it for if our role

is to develop the most precious resource

on earth

we’re best to remember what it feels

like to be a novice again

so as a minimum we can be experts

with empathy thank you

you