Becoming a Guide on the Side

There was a time when becoming a teacher meant learning how to stand and deliver lessons to a whole class sitting in rows facing the front. The teacher was the authority figure and either you listened and learned or you did not succeed. Teachers assumed it was up to the students to provide their own motivation and if they were uninterested, they failed or eventually aged out. Over time, this model of the sage on the stage became the guide on the side. Teachers learned that it was their responsibility to motivate their students and to lead them to new learning in whatever way possible. We became like the Pied Piper of Hamelin in our own classrooms. helping our students to master knowledge, skills and affect. Instead of being a figure of authority, only, we became leadership figures. And principles of effective leadership began to apply to the classroom and teaching practices.