Partnerships in an academic community usually means a quid pro quo relationship. Yet, is that what's best for all involved? Is that what's best for teachers? Is that what's best for students? Should there be an outcome or exchange for services in the schoolhouse?
At a Progressive Educator's conference in San Jose, California, one of the conference leaders said that Democracy is 'not about what you get, but it's about what you give up.'
Education is the same way. For teacher and student, certain things have to be given for it to be a true exchange, which is not necessarily even.
A teacher came to see me today to discuss his upcoming obeservation, which I am to do within the next two weeks. He said that one student taught him how to be a much better teacher because the student knew how to advocate for herself--even at nine years old.
The student said to the teacher, "When you give me instructions, I don't quite understand because you speak in a kind of shorthand or a kind of code that I can't crack. Can you give instructions that is more step-by-step so that I can be in on the learning, too."
The teacher said that although the student has not been in the teacher's classroom for more than four years now, she had left an indelible impression on the teacher, which taught him how to deal with children who have learning differences. Is this a true exchange? Can the student point to what she was given, too? Probably. Yet, the teacher remembered the teachable moment that he was given by this student who changed his teaching--for the better.
What about teacher to teacher exchanges? Open Source Teaching.
Teachers can share their "codes" with others with the intent to perfect their craft. In future blogs we'll talk about these exchanges. Again, they may not be quid pro quo ("this for that") Some people would call these exchanges "best practices." That's a bit of a misnomer because it means that the "practice" doesn't or shouldn't evolve. That practice is in s suspended state of stasis. Yet, the dialectic of teaching means that practice is constantly evolving and constantly changing. There are so many variables that make this so.
