Transformational Teaching: Learning That Extends Beyond the Walls of the Classroom

Abstract

Transformational teachers join students in a life-long learning process that involves commitment, passion, transparency, and a shared belief that students desire to learn to improve themselves. Transformational leaders motivate their followers by inspiring them to perform at their highest level. Likewise, transformational educators motivate their students to excel academically and always to be attuned to opportunities for personal growth. When educators take students outside the classroom walls, they present students with learning opportunities that far exceed what the words on the pages of a book can teach. One can lecture on the Coliseum's cobblestone streets or Dachau's gas chambers. However, it is vastly different to travel to Munich and stand before the furnaces of Dachau or to walk on the streets of Rome where Caesar once walked. When unique learning opportunities transform students, they become excited about learning. They develop newfound motivation, self-efficacy, and a larger vision of their education and goals.