A teacher as a designer means several things to me.
By definition to design could mean "plan: make or work out a plan for".
If this is true than anyone who can tie their shoes is a designer.
In education I am an architect to design. I not only plan, or work out plans, I implement those plans. I form lessons from topics given to me by a higher power ... the Standards of Learning. Do I stop there? No. As any great architect could tell you, the first draft [plan] always needs revision.
So I revise.
What worked?
What would make this lesson better?
Are the students getting enough practice in class?
Was that joke about the decimals staring at the sun a good one?
To be a designer you must be able to be able to critique yourself and learn how to accept criticism. Take suggestions seriously. Implement them. See if they work. Try again.
Design could mean "An arrangement scheme".
I design my classroom to be conducive to learning. An interactive word wall. Visual representations of past and present lessons. A large calendar. Pittsburgh Steelers paraphernalia. The things children look at every day in class should somehow coincide with the learning at hand. Cover the walls with covered material. They are a silent reinforcer of knowledge.
Design: "Intend or have a purpose".
What you say to your students every day makes you valuable to the learning process. Inside and out of the classroom you are a model of what they are to learn. To a 6th grader, you know it all. You must design what you say before, during and after a lesson. Behave how you want them to behave. Show them what you want to see.
You are the architect. Your lesson is a design. Your classroom is a design. Your words are designs. Your students are the mold. Fine tune and perfect your designs, and your structure will not falter.
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