CCK11 Changing role of "Educators"

I am living evidence of the changing roles of educators. My education began with a 1 room school house that included grades 1-9. Reading, Writing, Spelling, Geography and History were the subjects I vividly recall. Hours were spent on writing exercises - writing legibily...as interpreted by the sole teacher. Teachers were a handful in this era who had formal education and they were put on a pedestal. I do not recall anyone in my early years "questioning" a techers knowledge...

Many years later I volunteered in my daughters grade 2 class. Bad spelling was not to be identified - I was instructed to encourage students to spell as you heard....the next year the new message was your spelling is below expectations... however no where in the curriculum was there spelling....

In the workplace in recent years I have experienced many changes as an educator. Our corporation identified a single person as the professional and that person "taught" everyone everything there is to know about alcohol....today there is a team of individuals that teach because needs have changed. More courses are needed because of youthful new employees with little experience and older employees who have come out of retirement and again they have  little experience in our industry.

As an educator today I am a mentor, a coach, a resource, a messenger of liquor laws, a messanger of social responsibilities and the consumption of alcohol, as well as part of a team of educators. I am also a researcher because the internet sites can sometimes be misleading it is important to our company for me to flag "good and useful sites" Today I use storytelling to get many messages across, years ago I just regurgitated facts....
I have seen the move from overhead projectors and micro-fiche to smartboards, powerpoint and skype, I honestly hadn't given much thought to how the role as an educator was changing.

As I write this I am really feeling old....