Shifting Mindset: You Don’t Need to be the "Sage on the Stage"

First, let’s discuss what the “Sage on the Stage” is and what this looks like in a K-12 classroom. When I was a student, I assumed my teacher knew everything. And I mean, everything. I suppose as a kid we assume that our parents and other adults are the holders of knowledge and they will impart their wisdom on us when we are old enough to understand and retain that information. To some extent, this is true. Our parents and other adults teach us how to walk, talk, and interact with the world by modeling that behavior for us. As children, we are taught right from wrong, right from left, and how to write and read.

This doesn’t mean that the adults in our lives know everything. But we are often convinced that they do when we are young because someone with the ability to teach us how to tie our shoes and do simple arithmetic must also know everything else about the world to be able to teach it. ​

Read More