Teachers who learn AND teach??!

I just snuck over to see what W. Richardson's been mulling over...and found a great post that intrigued me, nonetheless, since the idea of "teacher" is changing constantly, perhaps everyday. This excerpt is from his latest post, 30 Aug, entitled: http://weblogg-ed.com/2006/teachers-as-learners-part-27/ (teachers as learners part 27):

In a world where knowledge is scarce (and I know I’m using that phrase an awful lot these days), I can see why we needed teachers to be, well, teachers. But here’s what I’m wondering: in a world where knowledge is abundant, is that still the case? In a world where, if we have access, we can find what we need to know, doesn’t a teacher’s role fundamentally change? Isn’t it more important that the adults we put into the rooms with our kids be learners first? Real, continual learners? Real models for the practice of learning? People who make learning transparent and really become a part of the community?
I hesitate to make blanket statements about teachers because a) they are seldom appropriate (the statements, that is) and b) they get me in trouble. But when I ask myself what percentage of the thousands of teachers I’ve worked with over the past two years are practicing learners, I have a hard time convincing myself that it’s more than half. Maybe even one-third.
I’m not saying this is necessarily their fault. We teach teachers to teach, we don’t teach teachers to learn. Even in professional development, we teach them stuff they need to be better teachers, but do we give them the skills they need to be better learners? Do we evaluate them on what they’ve been reading? On what they’ve been writing? On their reflectiveness?

I think this is one of the key issues that we are dealing with now: what IS a teacher?

Semantically speaking, s/he cannot only be someone who teaches because there is so much evolving in the world, technology, society, education, that what the teacher knows one day is "radically changed" the next.

So then, if teachers are suddenly (like this is a "new" concept...and it is for most) to become active teachers, aka active learners, then education is in for a rocky future. What about those teachers who have been at it for 20+ years, and it may be too late for those "old dogs"? What about their students...should we just say that they'll pick up the skills they should already have with the next teacher who is with the times? Or should there be specified refresher courses for all?

While technology is a huge factor in this question, since computers are the gateway to the future, I think that dramatically requestioning and reconfiguring what a teacher is would ultimately be the most important step in understanding the changes for education. I don't consider myself a teacher, probably because I lack the "teaching" experience as of yet, but also because I define myself as a perpetual student, always searching, reading, looking for answers...and I think this is what teachers need to do rather than just teaching.

Thanks, Will. You've put into words what I've already been thinking.

Teacher= learner