Monday, January 1, 2018

arbitrium ~ The Choice


The Choice -- As the New Year starts we are beginning to make choices that will affect the rest of the year.

As a learner and teacher I am reminded in the book The Choice: In Teaching and Education by the Arbinger Institute that we as educators are presented daily with a choice.

The text summarizes this fundamental choice as: "My choice is whether I will see and act on an obvious truth: that another is as legitimate and human as I am." (Arbinger Institute p. 3)

This choice touches on the basic truth that learning is relational. True learning will not occur within any context if a relationship is not present. This relationship can take many forms beyond the commonly thought of teacher-student relationship.

The relationship could be a personal connection to a topic or issue. It could be a mentoring relationship that springs forth from within the pages of a historical biography. Even in this digital age, relationship within our learning means as much as ever.

Finally, the book helps us apply this truth with four principles that I feel will help kick us off right as we return for another season of learning and teaching. The four principles are:

1) I Am Not the Teacher

2) My Obligation is to Learn

3) I See Greatness

4) I Build Community

Curae,
Agimus tibi Dominus

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