Tuesday, February 11, 2020

Teachers Don’t Know Everything


In 7 Benefits of Apologizing to Your Students from @DavidGeurin Blog, the author states,

“I find it puzzling how students sometimes have the idea that teachers/principals/educators are somehow above making mistake or should be above making mistakes.”

I have known many teachers who feel it is a sign of weakness to admit to making any mistakes in front of students. They seem to want students to think their teachers know everything. Over the years, students have learned to believe that their teachers know everything.

I want my students to know that I don’t know everything. It is impossible for anyone to know everything.

I want to teach my students that when they face something that they don’t know about or something that they want to learn more about, I can help them find a way to get that information. I need to help them find the tools that they can use later in life.

When a carpenter is building something, he doesn’t use the same tools to make all of the same things. Different things require different tools. The same thing applies to learning. Different learning may require different tools.

When we act like we know everything, we are limiting our students. We are not teaching them to grow. A person’s life of learning doesn’t end when they graduate from high school. Their life of learning is just beginning. In school, students are taught what they should know and what is required to graduate. After they leave school, they learn that the world is a big place and there are things that they want to learn.

It is important to model for our students how to learn. I want them to see that I don’t have all of the answers but I will help them figure out a way to find the answers. I will learn alongside my students. I want to be a role model of a lifelong learner for my students.

I want them to see that I’m always learning something new. I want them to see that I look to learn something new each and every day. I want them to see me ask questions. I want them to learn how to ask questions. In order to learn where to look, students have to learn how to ask questions. They need to learn how to ask the right questions.

How do you teach your students to ask the right questions? How do show students that you don’t know everything? Please share.

Photo by Jaredd Craig on Unsplash


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