Teacher - the revolutionary ( Part 1)

Human Being's recent post, "I'm not a Thief..." compelled me to revisit and re post this three-part essay on ' the teacher and the taught' that I posted a few years ago:

I came across this interesting article by A. Dee Williams titled 'Teaching as an Act of Love:Towards a Revolutionary Vision of Teacher Quality'. The article talks about what it takes to be a teacher. The author lays out a three fold relationship between teacher and student that makes for real learning. Here's the first fold:

"A teacher is a revolutionary. A revolution is a change in the way things are organized. As we teach we create revolution because we change patterns of thought. Cognitive psychology and developmental psychology tell us that the adolescent locks in on the first possible solution to a problem and once equipped with this possible solution, will not explore new possibilities. (Myers, 1999) The role of a teacher is to re-open the evaluation process and have the students begin to practice exploring different options, and when faced with different viable alternative solutions, use critical analysis and reflection to choose the direction of their life. As William Ayres writes, a teacher calls students to look beyond the reality of the moment "you can change your life. Whoever you are, wherever you have been, whatever you have done, [I] invite you to a second chance, another round, perhaps a different conclusion. [I] posit possibility, openness, and alternative; [I] point to what could be, but is not yet. [I] beckon you to change your path"."
.... to be continued