The Learning Revolution: Rethinking Teacher Certification

By: Dawn Casey-Rowe

We need to rethink the way teachers are certified. It’s certifiable.

Did you know with one extra course I can teach your children Russian? A university transcript says so. I’ve clearly forgotten everything but the bad words. Bad words are fun, but I try to save them for emergencies, not vocabulary lists in classrooms. When students swear, I explain it sounds silly if you think about it, “He pissed me off.” He had to urinate so hard it knocked you over? Really? When people swear in non-native tongues, it sounds even worse. I wouldn’t want to be a Russian teacher.

But swears are what I remember best about Russian. My Russian friends would say things like “God damming you!” I’d laugh. They weren’t amused. I don’t swear in other languages. I said the “s” word in once Russian. They laughed. It translates to the verb for going #2. No one shouts, “I pooped!” when they are “pissed off.” It doesn’t work.

If I want to swear properly in Russian–in case you do let me speak Russian in front of your kids–I can say the word for female dog with righteous indignation, or I can use a phrase that roughly translated means “penis from the mountain.” Imagine you are very, very mad. Can you say “penis from the mountain” and maintain your anger? I don’t think so. All in all, it’s best not to swear. I think there’s a good commandment about that that covers swearing for a couple of religions, but rules and etiquette address speaking nicely in secular society, too.

The point is I can take one grammar class and certify to teach a language I do not speak but I am not certified to teach things I can actually do, like teach writing, for which I get paid, or literature, which I love, in the current system. I’d have to go get an entire degree in English, which I already speak, at great expense. No thanks. I’m done paying for college. I am still paying off the degrees I currently have.

We are on the cusp of a learning revolution. Students are figuring out they have the world at their fingertips. Many schools aren’t letting them use it. “Put away your phone!” is pretty standard, although embracing technology would kids have limitless possibilities for learning–if we show them how to apply it “for real.” For real isn’t to pass my test. For real is to start a business, follow a passion in life, or reach for the stars. Students know they know they have this power. Soon, they won’t stand for less than learning their passions. I don’t.

It’s how the real world operates. I get excited about things. I take online free courses.  I even have a certificate from Google Analytics Academy. I learn because I love to learn, I am curious, or I need the information to function in work or society. Nobody tells me to do it, and nobody currently recognizes it. We need a way to recognize and certify self-initiated learning as the learning revolution progresses. We must recognize this for teachers and students. Not all learning takes place in the classroom now. That trend will continue and expand as more of the world’s knowledge is uploaded to the cloud.

Students learn online all the time. I had an entire conversation about Steinbeck with two freshmen. I nearly cried it was so deep. Then they revealed the truth, “Yeah, I saw it on Thug Notes.” The student said he might even read the book. That’s a win. A student became interested in a great author. I told him a secret, “I use Thug Notes too. And briefs, and summaries.” Then I sit down for coffee with Steinbeck when I can.

What if we recognized self-initiated learning for students and teachers?

There’s going to be a tipping point where we must. Will you tell my student he can’t code because I put him on Code Academy? We don’t offer a course and it’s a good career move to learn, so he did. Will you tell me I don’t speak a language or know a topic because I learned it on Coursera, Rosetta Stone, or Stanford Online instead of handing over my mortgage payment to a local university?

Years ago, I wanted to certify to teach basic science. Dual certification seemed to be all the rage for keeping a job. I like science and I have a bunch of courses behind me, though not enough by The Man’s standards. It’d be fun to teach some science. Instead of teaching students history–about dead people, I’d teach about how climate change killed those dead people or how they rotted in the sun during the plague. Science.

Eventually, I smartened up. Paying a few thousand dollars to be rubber stamped to do the same job, teach six classes a day, isn’t economically smart. It would have taken money I didn’t have from my household and paid back nothing but financial stress in return. In the normal world, a person gets a promotion or raise when learning additional skills. Not so in education, unless you leave the classroom to be an administrator, which many do for that reason alone.

The learning revolution that’s coming allows students–and teachers–to learn for free. After all, we’re supposed to be life-long learners. The system needs to catch up. College isn’t the only way to learn. It’s really expensive. I have an additional degree I never finished for that reason.

Self-initiated learning is going to be the wave of the future. A smart employer knows a self-starter when he or she sees one. Self-initiated learning is giving kids skills in tech, entrepreneurship, and motivation to reach for those stars. They learn what they want and need on demand. We must recognize those skills not say, “Nope, that’s not on your transcript, you’re a half credit short.” We preach proficiency, competency, and skills with the Common Core. We need a way to recognize them without a number two pencil.

This should be no different for teachers.

Imagine the classes I’d teach if I wasn’t tied down by the requirements of certification. I’d teach insurance adjusting, business, tech, writing. I’d integrate science and social science, history and literature, and I’d even love to teach in a language lab where students pick their particular language and I guide them on their way.

I’d teach the lessons of life, how it kicks you around if you don’t have the skills to learn what you need to know in a hurry, then use them “for real.”

Students must be flexible enough to learn the skills they need, then put them into practice. That’s real life. Schools don’t emulate that.

The “learning revolution” will continue to grow.  Free online courses, YouTube, and TEDx are currently available to the public, and more and more people are taking advantage of them to learn new skills. We should give remediation credit, extra credit or professional development credit for these. People choose to learn what fascinates them because it’s not being taught in our schools or organized as professional development, but because they love learning or need the skills. Learners are leaving gurus in the dust, learning despite the system, not from the system. We must catch up and recognize these “off the books” skills.

Some fear technology will replace teachers. It won’t. The best teachers know they are mentors and guides, not paper graders. They individualize instruction and teach students how to learn the things that matter most, even if there is no recognition on a transcript. It’s time to find a way to recognize student skills. I put students on LinkedIn for that purpose. If school doesn’t recognize you, kid, the world will.

Students must be formally recognized for what they know. Teachers must be certified for what they can teach, not for only for the college courses they have under their belt.

Graduation season is upon us. It’s the time of year when students come back and say, “Miss, nobody taught me this!” Today’s student must be able to recognize this ahead of time and learn the “this” they will need on their own. In many cases, they’re doing it. It’s time for us to endorse it.

Someday schools will catch up. We won’t worry about filling in bubbles, we’ll worry about showing students–and teachers–they can be great, embraced by the system rather than boxed in by the requirements. I hope that day’s soon, because, the learning revolution has begun.

Dawn Casey-Rowe is an educator in Rhode Island who is heavily involved with tech startups focused on educational resources.  She is a regular contributor to ConversationED, Edudemic and TeachThought.  Her blog is cafecasey.com.