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