Lifelong learning, continuing education, and CHANGE in the classroom should not be optional for in-service teachers. This past fall, Karen Montgomery shared a story with me she heard from a school administrator in Ohio. That principal tells her staff they have three options when it comes to learning new ways to help students learn, both with and without digital tools. Educators can either:
Retrain, Retire, or Resign.
Sound harsh? It shouldn’t. Continuing education and CHANGE isn’t an option in the medical field, and it shouldn’t be in K-12 or higher education either. While educators at many levels continue to get credit for “seat time” in professional development sessions, some of those educators remain resistant to substantial CHANGES in the ways they learn and help their students learn. This particularly comes to light when mobile learning and 1:1 learning projects are launched.
We all need to keep learning and changing. As long as we’re educators, it’s not optional. Mike Muir refers to the condition of being resistant to educational / learning change as APP: Adult Paradigm Paralysis.
Learn more about Mike’s GREAT ideas about differentiated, engaged, and digitally-powered learning on the January 13th Seedlings podcast!
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Comments
One response to “Retrain, Retire or Resign: Options for Adult Paradigm Paralysis”
that’s a good article that addresses the problem squarely. it not only applies to teachers and the medical field but i would think to almost every job and as long as the retraining programs are constructive and not just retraining theories only. i have been to those kinds of seminars where you are taught the jargon but little beyond that. i am especially interested because i am faced with this problem now.