This year we lost an English teacher because our student numbers are down.   Part of the reason that this is happening is that students have the opportunity to take English classes during the summer and online.   They are taking advantage of early college and dual enrollment in order to get college credits during high school. At lunch recently, we had a discussion about computers taking over a good portion of the teachers traditional job. Much grading can be done by a computer.  This seems easy for math but even English essays are being scored by computers now. Many teachers are starting to wonder what their jobs will look like in the future or if their jobs will even exist. I’m not nervous about whether or not a teacher’s job will exist in the future because teaching is an extremely complex task that is driven by relationships which is something that a computer probably can’t replicate; however I do see the role of teachers changing quite a bit. And I do think that if teachers continue to look at their job in the same way and with the same purpose, they may find themselves without a job.  So what does it look like for a teacher now that computers can do many of the tasks that teachers have traditionally done?

Teachers need to get extra creative about delivering instruction. They also need to think about what their purpose is and how it’s different from the traditional role of a teacher. What do our students need from us now that a computer can give them some kinds of accurate feedback on their work? They don’t even really need us to teach them content because much of it can be accessed online.  I would argue that today’s learners need to be able to find problems and think creatively so they can develop new solutions that will compete in our global economy; they need to be able to research and they need to be able to communicate in a variety of mediums.  Our purpose is to help them gain these skills.  There are many things that humans can do to develop these skills, that a computer can’t do.

Relationships Developer

Relationships are probably the most foundational thing that computers cannot replace. We need to get to know students academically and also all their various strengths, passions and needs.  This is so we can skillfully advise them and act as mentors.  It is so we can develop curriculum in a way that it will be relevant and meaningful to our students.  We need to develop relationships with community members so that when our students are interested in something that we are no longer experts in, we can connect with community members to help us.

Collaborator & Communicator

Developing these relationships means that we also have to be skilled collaborators and communicators.  Our ability to communicate learning expectations and then collaborate with students and parents to make these learning targets meaningful is essential.  For many of us, managing this and figuring how to incorporate this with the vestiges of traditional educational systems is a challenge and maybe even an obstacle.  As a result, we have to be particularly creative.  Again, something that a computer may not be able to replicate.

Innovator

The innovative mindset required to address this creative need allows us to combine all that we know about teaching and learning, all the skills we have as curriculum designers and learning managers and remix that with student interests, passions and strengths.  This type of innovation requires complex and novel thinking that requires flexibility and intuition.  These human interaction skills are not going away and are in fact becoming more and more necessary and valuable.  As we develop more self-directed, personalized curricula, our students are going to need new skills as well. We will need to be adept at scaffolding more independent, open-ended learning opportunities.

Scaffolder

As skilled scaffolders, we will combine all we know about our students with our knowledge of instruction and experience as learning managers to develop protocols, outlines, routines and procedures that will allow students to experience success with more open-ended tasks that are less familiar to them.  Protocols can help organize student thinking and discussion.  Outlines can help students organize their ideas and products while allowing them to be more independent.  Routines and procedures can help students stay focused during inevitably unstructured times.

Researchers

The final skill that teachers currently have and will have to remix in order to compete is as researchers.  While teachers are already skilled at researching, we will need to use these skills to curate information rather than disseminate information.  Keeping track of and organizing this information so it can be accessed for a variety of purposes is a new skill that we will need to hone.  I have begun to do this using hashtags on Twitter and boards on Pinterest.  Others have different methods and some will need to start coming up with their own routines.

If we add all these new roles to our traditional role, we might become overwhelmed, so although it’s hard to let long held traditions go, it will be important to consider our new purpose and when possible let things go.  Are we hanging on to old practices that could be replaced with something that is already part of our new role? These will be difficult changes to identify and redevelop.  They will take time and collaboration.  What’s one thing that you spend time on right now that doesn’t help kids learn? Could replace that practice in a way that might redesign your instructional practice to be student centered?