You Are The Expert

Teachers today graduate with good content knowledge and a few behaviorist strategies under their belt, but the science of learning is not yet a significant part of the training. The recent surge of information from mind, brain, and education research available to the public can be overwhelming, and often represents findings viewed through the eyes of theorists rather than experienced educators. Developing discernment to filter out the meaningful information from the misinterpretation of scientific data takes time, but is essential when we are responsible for the wellbeing and success of the young human beings in our care. Find an interesting perspective from a trusted source that offers enough merit to make it worth investigating in a classroom setting, and develop a way to test the practical application of the idea systematically. The results will embolden you to advocate for the best emerging practices and fortify you to withstand the impact of mandated initiatives that may or may not be supported by reliable evidence. Every teacher is an active researcher and we all need to cultivate the skills necessary to design a classroom “experiment,” collect data, and draw conclusions from what we see in order to test the often contradictory theories presented to us as fact. Stepping back to analyze our habits as teachers and making adjustments that work for our students and ourselves is what keeps us in the drivers seat, proactively sustaining relevancy in our classroom and in our career.