What It Means to Teach — Part I
From Education to Instructional Design
The modern educational visionary, Sean Michael Morris, says that teaching is activism, as he acknowledges Paulo Freire’s position that education is an “inescapable concern.” If we regard this as true, then every human on the planet is a teacher. Further, every one of us is at the same time a learner. While education itself is finite — it has set start and end points — learning is lifelong. We should not assume that learning and education are one in the same. Education, to save itself blushes, better encompass ample learning. However, learning does not require time boundaries and is free from academic endorsement that we find in education.
Accepting for the moment that interpretation of education and learning, let us now consider the relationship of the concepts teaching and learning. Once more, it is possible to argue that while the word teach and the word learn have an affiliation, there is a significant assumption about their connection. Below I point out that assumption.
Today I taught my students facts about hurricanes
Today I learned my students facts about hurricanes.
Is this a silly example? Yes, it is. But does it afford an apple-on-the-head moment of clarity? I think so. Not only is the latter grammatically incorrect, it is also an epistemic and ontological impossibility. While I may be able to teach someone, I cannot learn them. I may own the teaching, but I do not own the learning. A teacher can no more make their students learn than a farmer can make their crops flourish. They do not control the actions of growing or learning and therefore must rely on their abilities to establish the correct conditions for learning or growing to happen. The title of Nater and Gallimore’s book on the teaching principles of iconic college basketball coach John Wooden, summates well the relationship of teaching and learning: You Haven’t Taught Until They Have Learned.
If any one of us can be a teacher, can we come to an agreement on exactly what it means to teach? Here are a few selected definitions of the word teach from the internet.
To cause to know something; to guide the studies of; to impart the knowledge of; to instruct by precept, example or experience; to conduct instruction regularly in. — Meriam-Webster Dictionary
To give someone knowledge or to train someone; to instruct. — Cambridge Dictionary
To cause or help (someone) to learn about a subject by giving lessons; to show someone how to behave, think, etc.; to cause (someone) to know the unpleasant results of something. — The Britannica Dictionary
From this sample of definitions, some lexicographers appear to believe that teaching involves giving lessons so that learning will happen. I suppose they have not yet had the a-ha moment that people cannot be learned. Apart from that heedless interpretation, the above definitions consider an instructional environment but do not mention the planning or preparation needed for that instruction.
Does this convey that we should imply the preparation of instruction to be part of what it means to teach? Or, like learning someone, has the necessity of planning been excluded due to a lack of insight? Either way, what it means to teach remains delusive.
This transitions us nicely into one final discussion about instructional designers and teachers. The term instructional designer may not be as recognizable to the layperson as education, learning or teaching. However, they are a group of specialists who can help ensure the planning and preparation of instruction is front and centre.
Instructional designers (IDs) truly understand how people learn. They appreciate that the preparation of the proper learning conditions is the main way for a teacher, instructor, facilitator or coach to affect change in their learners. IDs are keenly aware that every learner is different and that those differences must be reflected in the instruction. They take that personalised and differentiated instruction and present it in a manner that addresses the needs of the whole learner, not only the content. IDs have a wealth of evidence-backed tools and approaches/strategies at their disposal for transmitting instruction in ways that learners will find engaging and meaningful, like improving their retention and retrieval of newly learned material.
Are instructional designers teachers? They can be. Are teachers instructional designers? They should be. Not in the professional sense, of course, although teachers do switch to instructional design. A teacher should understand and be able to do the things that instructional designers do. To plan environments that will benefit learners, a teacher should know about learning. They should know their learners. Without those skills, two things may happen. First, the teacher will simply duplicate the way they were taught, assuming that if it was good enough for them it will be good enough for their learners. Second, the teacher may erroneously believe that all they need to do is talk while learners only need to listen, and magically, learning will happen. Just because we taught it does not mean they have learned it.
Works Cited
Morris, SM. (2018, September 11). An Urgency of Teachers. Hybrid Pedagogy. Retrieved February 27, 2024 https://hybridpedagogy.org/an-urgency-of-teachers/
Nater S and Gallimore, R. (2005, October 1). You Haven’t Taught Until They Have Learned. Retrieved February 27, 2024 https://www.amazon.ca/Havent-Taught-Until-They-Learned/dp/1885693664
Merriam-Webster. (n.d.). Teach. In Merriam-Webster.com dictionary. Retrieved February 27, 2024. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/teach
Cambridge University Press and Assessment. (n.d.). Teach. In Cambridge Dictionary. Retrieved February 27, 2024. https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/teach
Encycolopaedia Britannica Inc. (n.d.). Teach. In The Britannica Dictionary. Retrieved on February 27, 2024 https://www.britannica.com/dictionary/teach
