PEN Mondays - If You Aren't Also Learning, You're Failing Your Students

4 min read

Picture this: You’re standing at the front of the classroom, lessons planned, assessments ready, every word of your content carefully rehearsed. You are the authority in that room. But here’s the uncomfortable question: Are you still learning?

Because if you’re not — if your curiosity has quietly packed up and left — your students can tell. They can feel it. And worse, they’re learning from it.

Teaching isn’t just about transferring knowledge. It’s about modeling a life of learning.

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Learning Is Not Optional — For You, or for Them

In a world where AI writes essays, industries change overnight, and tomorrow’s jobs don’t even exist yet, the old model of education — memorize, test, forget — is collapsing. Students need more than facts. They need flexibility, creativity, and critical thinking.

And they need teachers who embody that.

If you stop growing, what message are you sending?
That learning ends when you get your diploma?
That expertise is a finish line you cross once, instead of a lifelong marathon?

The truth is, students don’t just absorb your syllabus. They absorb your habits, your energy, your attitude toward learning itself.
A curious teacher signals that curiosity is normal. A stagnant teacher signals that growth is optional.

Opportunities to learn are everywhere. Every day you’re surrounded by new questions, different perspectives, evolving technology. Open your eyes. Growth isn’t waiting around the corner — it’s standing right in front of you, raising its hand and asking for a hall pass.

Authority Without Ego

Yes, you are the authority in your classroom. You’ve earned it.
But authority without humility is just ego wearing a cap and gown.

A person with a large ego believes they already know it all. They don’t ask questions because they fear appearing weak. They don’t seek feedback because they fear being wrong. And, slowly, their authority rots from the inside out.
True authority? It comes from expertise paired with openness.

When students see you learn, when they hear you say,
"I hadn’t thought about it that way," or
"That’s a good question — let’s figure it out together,"
you’re modeling something rare and powerful: the courage to grow.

Authority and humility don’t compete. They strengthen each other. The best leaders, inside and outside of education, know this instinctively. It’s time more teachers did too.

How to Stay a Lifelong Learner (Without Burning Out)

No one’s asking you to enroll in a master's program every semester. Growth doesn’t always have to be dramatic. Small, intentional steps make a big difference:

• Micro-reflections: After a lesson, ask yourself: What worked? What bombed? What would I tweak next time?

• Seek feedback: Students, colleagues, administrators — they see things you might not. Their insights are gold if you’re willing to mine it.

• Stay updated: Read articles, listen to podcasts (check out our friends at the Teacher Experience Podcast), attend a workshop once in a while. You don't have to chase every trend, but you should know the world your students are growing up in.

• Try something new: Pilot a new project. Explore a new tool. Introduce a new classroom discussion format. Stretch your comfort zone.

Learning can (and should) be woven naturally into your professional life — not stacked on top of it like a burden.

You’re Preparing Students for a World Without Tests

Here’s the thing: school isn’t real life.
In real life, there’s no final exam on a Friday.
There’s no bubble sheet to tell you what you got wrong.

Every day outside the classroom is a test.
A test of creativity.
A test of resilience.
A test of critical thinking, of empathy, of judgment.

You’re not just preparing students to pass your class.
You’re preparing them to survive, thrive, and lead in a world where the answers aren’t printed in the back of the book.

If you aren’t practicing learning yourself, how can you expect them to keep practicing after they leave your classroom?

You are teaching them how to live, not just how to pass.

Final Thought: Learning Isn’t a Luxury — It’s a Responsibility

Your students are growing every day. Their worlds are expanding, their understanding shifting, their questions getting bigger and messier.
You owe it to them — and to yourself — to keep growing too.

Standing still isn’t neutral. It’s moving backward.
And frankly, our students deserve better than that.

So here’s your gentle nudge:

• Pick up a new book.

• Listen to a new voice.

• Take a risk in your practice.

• Admit when you don’t know.

• Ask more questions.

Model the life you want your students to live — a life where learning never stops.

Because if you’re still learning, you’re still leading.

And that is the kind of teacher every student deserves.

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