What an excellent idea this is!

I came across this blog article the other day on how several teachers in Vermont, USA, spent the day as students in their school. As it says on the tin, they simply went into school as students instead of teachers and spent the day sitting in class listening, queueing for lunch, hanging around lockers, smoking in the toilets (well, maybe not that last one) and doing all the things students do.

But it had a practical side. Some very useful things came out of this from basic problems such as the chairs being uncomfortable to more subtle ones: the lessons were long and students (including the teachers-as-students) got bored all that time. What was needed then were a few simple changes to make the learning environment better.

Now I’m wondering now if this can be adapted to the local school where I help out; I would love to try this one out! Certainly it seems a brilliant idea!

This whole concept follows the idea that when we go into work we tend to insulate ourselves from what is around us and then as we (hopefully) move up the ladder we tend to forget what has gone on before.

All teachers went to school as students once upon a time, but it’s easy to forget and step into the role of “teacher” while at the same time forgetting that we, too, were once students. A little reminder now and then can’t be a bad thing.

Useful Links

Teachers Walk in Student Shoes – the original article from the school where this happened; well worth a read.

Student for a Day – the video which goes with the article.