Teachers can apply an entrepreneurial approach to become a more effective educator with these six skills according to educator, Katrina Stevens.
Skills like problem solving, developing an online professional learning community and partnering with a mentor.
When we polarize the worlds of education and business, we miss what we can learn from each other.
Here are suggestions on how to apply an entrepreneurial approach to become a more effective educator:
1. Don’t wait for “someone else” to solve a problem. We know the issues that need solving because we live and breathe them, which means educators are in the best position to articulate and perhaps even develop solutions. I continue to be surrounded by other educators who are true experts and have workable ideas. I value their expertise and experience as much if not more than researchers, and certainly more than most policy makers.
2. Develop an online professional learning community (PLC). Entrepreneurs recognize the importance of networking and finding out what others are learning and doing. You are not the first educator to encounter the problems you’re facing. We learn from the successes and failures of others. I rely heavily on my PLC to help me discover new resources and to keep current on ideas and policy changes, which makes me a better educator.
3. Develop relationships with mentors with different kinds of expertise.Entrepreneurs find mentors at different stages of their careers and in different fields. Too often educators only find mentors in their specific discipline. Though this makes sense on many levels, talking with others who have different perspectives can lead to more creative thinking. My high-school teachers who struggled with classroom management learned so much from observing elementary-school teachers because of their phenomenal ability to orchestrate their classrooms.
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