Becoming a 21st Century Teacher

I have always believed that computers can provide “tremendous opportunities to enhance classroom instruction” (Keengwe, 2008). I signed up to learn about technology at Walden because I wanted to enhance my teaching with the interactive application that comes with Internet learning. What I carry away from the course is a much deeper understanding of technology and its impact on the world and our students.

Most importantly, this class gave me a deeper understanding of technology and its implications on instruction. Even as we begin using technology in our classrooms, we need to take a moment to look at how technology has already reshaped the world of our students. As digital natives, our students have grown up with a world of knowledge at their fingertips. Thanks to video games and electronic toys, they think differently than us. They are used to receiving information at high speeds; they are multi-taskers who require stimulation for learning (Prensky, 2001).

Due to the ubiquity of technology, our students do not need teachers to convey knowledge to them in the traditional sense. The answer to any question is no farther than a Google search away (Richardson, 2009, p. 131). They need us to help them navigate the great quantity of information that surrounds them. Educators need to come to recognize the uniqueness in their students’ learning styles. We need reach out to them and incorporate their digital lives into our classrooms (Prensky, 2005). This means that classrooms need to be student-centered, as opposed to teacher-centered. Because knowledge is free and ever-present in our world, we need to teach kids how to synthesize that knowledge and think critically about its applications.

Thanks to the World Wide Web, knowledge has become a collaborative endeavor. Students can now create work that can be read by others around the world. With the advent of wikis, our students publish not ‘finished’ items, but products that can be “added to and refined” by people outside the classroom (Richardson, 2009). This means that not only can anyone read and grow from their ideas, but students can also become editors of the content they read on the Internet, giving them the opportunity to “converse and interact with” the information they find (Richardson, 2009). If teachers learn how to utilize these tools, our students are no longer blank slates to be filled with knowledge; they are now active participants in their learning and in their own futures.

Keengwe, J., Onchwari, G., & Wachira, P. (2008). The use of computer tools to support meaningful learning. AACE Journal, 16(1).
Prensky, M. (2001, September/October). Digital natives, digital immigrants part 1. On the Horizon, 9(5), 1-6.
Prensky, M. (2005). Listen to the natives. Educational Leadership, 63(4), 8–13.
Richardson, W. (2009). Blogs, wikis, podcasts, and other powerful web tools for classrooms (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.

Partnership for 21st Century Learning

The partnership for 21st Century learning web site was created by the US Dept of Education to team educators with hundreds of stakeholders in the business world. The list of collaborators is impressive and includes representatives from AOL, Apple, Cisco and Microsoft, to name a few. The intention of the partnership is to “serve as a catalyst to position 21st century skills at the center of US K-12 education by building collaborative partnerships among education, business, community and government leaders.”

As I browsed the site, I was confronted with the globally competitive work environment our students will face in the future. Technology has shrunk our world, and Americans are becoming less and less desirable as employees. The Partnership addresses this problem with a solution- let’s find out what businesses need and train our students to be successful competitors in this technology-driven world. The workforce is changing, and so must our teaching if we want our students to be successful. The site points out that beyond the core subjects, our students need to be taught a whole new skill set, including:
* Information media and communication skills
* Thinking and problem-solving skills
* Interpersonal and self-direction skills
* Global awareness
* Financial, economic and business literacy
* Civic literacy

According to this pedagogy, all American schools need to be not only teaching these skills, but also creating statewide standards and assessments around them. We need to change our professional development to focus around these skills, since they will help our students stay competitive with our increasingly global workforce. The site lists thirteen states that have already joined the program.

I was surprised by how many well-known companies took the time join and collaborate in effort. As I thought about it, though, it makes sense that if a business wants to in-source their employees in this increasingly competitive world, the best way to do that is to be clear about what they need. The frustrating part about the web site is that it’s not super useful unless your state has already joined the organization. Clicking on the resources link, I found many links to expensive programs, curriculums, pre-made assessments, and staff development sessions. To truly become a partner in this process, it looks like your governor, superintendent, and districts would need to get involved.

I think all educators need to check out this site, whether our states take the initiative or not. As individuals, educators need to begin to restructure classrooms. We need to pause and envision the world our students will be joining when they graduate. Then, we need to find ways to incorporate global awareness, critical thinking and complex collaboration into our lessons in order to successfully prepare our kids for a changing future.