I kept stopping at the “to listen” bit. I wanted to insert something about ‘and equip learners with the confidence and skills that will enable them to engage in a dialogue with’ the significantly knowledgeable others that you mention. But you had covered that. So the emphasis on ‘listen’ was deliberate and important; listening/watching/eLurking an important stage in any learning. Quite a difficult ‘skill’ for learners to develop/value.

I have listened and learnt something – Thank You (significant, knowledgable other) – John

Always having considered myself a life-long learner, I came across the phrase “lead-learner” last year. There’s something in that that describes a humility that enables the other learners under your leadership to have more learning room.

My students have also been experimenting as teachers this year: visiting other schools to show them how to do film-making; skyping other schools to share their learning on using Google Docs; and acting as peer mentors within my own school.

When Vygostky described how learning exists within a socio-cultural context, it had powerful implications for how teachers should act in the now – effective teaching has to be connected to this current socio-cultural context. But in addition to that, it’s interesting to consider how the system is dynamic – by increasing the ‘practice of freedom’ it will change the socio-cultural context of the future, meaning that teachers will have to act differently in future ‘now’s. I guess that demonstrates that Einstein really was right – space-time is curved.

I say students are leading the revolution because they are making it so that those educators who do not work on transformative practice are becoming less likely to engage students in their learning.

The biggest fear that I have is that corporate privatization/capitalization that you so eloquently describe develops a structure where the have and have-not gap becomes too big, and structurally embedded such that an uprising of any kind is easily crushed.

You’ve inspired some big thinking, and it seems I’ve got to hammer out these ideas a bit more before saying more. Sorry that I’m not more succinct.

Thanks for making me think!