All About that Process

"...You are a teacher who teaches not content but process."

I can't get over the opening statement in this 2016 Knowledge Quest article by Audrey Church. I'm pursuing my MLIS right now and we talk a lot about what it means to be a school librarian, but nothing has really clicked into place like that has. Church finally put into words the thing that made teaching in a library feel so right in the first place.

When I was a classroom teacher, I felt bogged down by content. So much to teach, so little time. So many students, so many different learning styles. So often I felt like I was marching along to the beat of the curriculum with no room to meet my students where they were. So often I felt I was leaving my students behind, or not keeping up.

When I moved into the library, I suddenly had room to breathe. I could expand on what teachers were teaching, linger on inquiry, dive deep into passions, do all the things that makes learning fun and worth pursuing for a lifetime. Freed from the endless march of content, I could finally focus on what learning really was: Wondering. Asking questions. Seeking answers. Questioning those answers.

I know teachers try to teach process (lord knows I did), but sometimes their isn't enough room. Having someone in your school who can support that pursuit, whose job it is to focus on that, is so critical and I'm so glad Audrey Church put it into words.

~~

Church, A. (2016) 10 Things Your Administrator Needs to Know as the School Year Begins. Knowledge Quest. Retrieved from https://knowledgequest.aasl.org/ten-things-administrator-needs-know-school-year-begins/

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