Your teachers here work very hard trying to share important, meaningful and relevant knowledge and skills. And that’s important, but it’s not enough. Because to be successful in the 21st century you’re going to have to be a learner, you’re going to have to learn how to learn, and go after things on your own. You’re going to have to be independent, curious, passionate learners, who don’t just sit back and wait for someone to tell them what they’re supposed to know, but who go out and try to figure things out for yourself. Who pursue your interests, your goals, your passions with intensity, and who actively participate in everything you do. Who go out and find other learners who are passionate about what you are passionate about and learn from them – and alongside them. Karl Fisch
Karl Fisch was one of the first edublogs(gers) I added to more RSS. He is not a hard man to locate online, for good reason(? ). The context of this post is important. With 21 years experience teaching middle and high school math he is writing about his partial return to the classroom after ten years. Despite Karls invitation to ‘play along,’ I am not that aligned / enthused by Maths tuition, that aside, Ive just been riding sidecar, until this last post. The quote is perhaps long, but I feel its full inclusion is justified but I encourage you to read the post, there is considerably more depth to the post than I have presented here.
The quote denotes that an urgency, an enthusiasm and highlights the importance of setting a climate of aspiration in your students. To expect more than can be merely graded and significantly, communicating that explicitly with your students. @Stuartridout called upon leaders to know their education philosophy. This post helped me define the tone of my philosophy.