A teacher is a bridge!

       Teachers today are not expected to be the source of all knowledge, they should simply be a bridge to help children access the information and skills they need. Most students know that with an internet connection and ten seconds, they could have the answer to any question in the world. Good teachers will use this as tool for themselves and the children. As Siemens stated in his article, "realizing that complete knowledge cannot exist in the mind of one person requires a different approach to creating an overview of the situation. Diverse teams of varying viewpoints are a critical structure for completely exploring ideas". Rather than getting irritated at the child for not coming to them for the answers, a good teacher will be happy that the child is becoming self-sufficient. This requires the teacher to encourage children with all different talents to reach out in different areas and be successful. 

        One skill which is crucial for teachers to help bridge students to success in is the area of communication and networking. Modeling good networking and giving explicit directions on how to communicate well and network are important for students learning. As Siemens stated in his video The Impact of Social Software on Learning, "our learning is one of forming connections" and then to use these connections to "stay current and learn from one another". Teachers have the opportunity to show networking by joint teaching in subjects or units where other teachers have great resources or knowledge. When students see teachers collaborating in many aspects, they will see that they do not need to be expert at everything, but rather they should use the resources and people they have around them. Teachers can show students how to collaborate and communicate with people across the world! Through modeling, specific instruction, and the willingness to admit a lack of knowledge and work at finding a solution, teachers can be a bridge for students into collaborative lifelong learning.