{"id":1169,"date":"2011-11-15T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2011-11-15T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thecornerstone.wpengine.com\/why-arent-most-educators-motivated-to-learn\/"},"modified":"2021-11-16T17:01:54","modified_gmt":"2021-11-16T21:01:54","slug":"why-arent-most-educators-motivated-to-learn","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/truthforteachers.com\/why-arent-most-educators-motivated-to-learn\/","title":{"rendered":"Why aren’t most educators motivated to learn?"},"content":{"rendered":"

There\u2019s a lot of talk right now about how students are naturally curious and want to learn about their world, but the performance-focused atmosphere of school squelches that desire. The concept that child-centered ed reformers are pushing is this: if we give kids more freedom to learn what they want to learn the way they want to learn it, they will eventually master the skills they need to and be successful in school and in life.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve never fully bought into that idea, as much as I like it on a theoretical level. And the more I analyze the behavior of educators, the more I\u2019m convinced it\u2019s not completely true.<\/p>\n

Because most\u00a0educators don\u2019t learn just for the sake of learning. We are just as disengaged and apathetic as the kids are.<\/em><\/p>\n

Anyone know an educator who went into this field for the money? Of course not. We\u2019re all working in schools because deep down inside somewhere, there\u2019s a desire to make a difference in the lives of kids. There\u2019s some aspect of this field that we are inherently passionate about and are emotionally invested in.<\/p>\n

So why are so few educators on Twitter or using social media to expand their repertoire of best practices?<\/p>\n

Why don\u2019t they attend conferences regularly, including ones that are\u00a0totally online and completely free<\/a>?<\/p>\n

Why don\u2019t they read the latest books about educational research and discuss them with others?<\/p>\n

Why are so few educators engaged in self-directed professional development in their free time?<\/p>\n

Most teachers, coaches, principals, and other school workers that I know in \u201creal life\u201d don\u2019t read professional books or engage in conversations with other educators online. For them, work stays at work whenever possible, and there\u2019s zero crossover to their personal lives if they can help it. They hate the professional development they\u2019re forced to attend but don\u2019t seek out answers to their problems on their own. Some may do a Google search for lesson materials on occasion, but they\u2019re not looking to explore the latest educational trends or find ways to transform the way their students learn with 21st century teaching methods. They just want a printable worksheet to go with tomorrow\u2019s activity.<\/p>\n

Education is one of my my primary hobbies and I genuinely enjoy the time I spend reading, writing, and conversing about it. I\u2019ve always been a \u201cteacher nerd\u201d who loved to devour Fountas and Pinnell in my free time and comb the web for new ideas.\u00a0I realize that not everyone has that personality type, and some people would rather pursue other interests and hobbies in their limited spare time. But if we\u2019re all supposedly curious at heart\u2013and all interested in the field of education on some level\u2013why don\u2019t we all invest in our own professional learning? Where is the natural curiosity and desire to grow?<\/p>\n

If we as educators don\u2019t exhibit a desire to learn and improve, how can we expect that of our students?<\/p>\n

This post is the closest I\u2019ve ever come to teacher-bashing, and that\u2019s SO not my intention here. Obviously, I\u2019m not talking about YOU\u2013the very fact that you\u2019re reading this proves I\u2019m preaching to the choir, because the 85% of teachers I\u2019m referring to wouldn\u2019t visit my blog, anyway. I\u2019m just feeling a little disheartened and disillusioned with the fact that so many great ideas in education\u2013ideas that could change the world for our students\u2013are just floating around in an echo chamber. What\u2019s the solution? Or more precisely\u2026what\u2019s the problem?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There\u2019s a lot of talk right now about how students are naturally curious and want to learn about their world, but the performance-focused atmosphere of school squelches that desire. The concept that child-centered ed reformers are pushing is this: if we give kids more freedom to learn what they want to learn the way they … Continued<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":3578,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1169","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nTruth For Teachers | Why aren't most educators motivated to learn?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/truthforteachers.com\/why-arent-most-educators-motivated-to-learn\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Truth For Teachers | Why aren't most educators motivated to learn?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"There\u2019s a lot of talk right now about how students are naturally curious and want to learn about their world, but the performance-focused atmosphere of school squelches that desire. 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