An Invitation

Growing up you spent thousands of hours sitting in classrooms, and in most of those classrooms you likely encountered directive approaches to teaching and learning. By the time you entered college, you were already filled with directive assumptions about how to teach. In your education classes and student-teaching experiences, you may have observed more directive practice and learned methods that tend to reinforce the notions of directive practice. After graduation you probably accepted a job at a school whose culture is based on those same directive assumptions. All of this was good. These experiences provided a foundation to get you started in a wonderful profession.

The danger is that you may now be trapped in the assumptions that once facilitated your growth. The beliefs that once served you well may now be holding you back, and you may be losing hope for what you aspired to be. We invite you to consider the stories of the HETs we profile. We invite you to transcend your assumptions and develop a more co-creative perspective of teaching and learning. In this book we share reflection questions, teaching tips from HETs, and other tools to support you in your journey to become the best teacher in you again and again.