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.

Ready to Dive In

So, it’s the first week of school. I have six different classes to prepare for this year, and I’m switching from teaching Social Studies and Geography to English and Reading at various grade levels. Beyond the all-new curriculum I must write, I’m also working on a Masters’ Degree program through Walden University. Needless to say, I have a lot on my plate. Why not add more, right? The more weighed down I get, the more I seem to need to take on.

I’ve been obsessing the last couple of weeks about setting up a Weblog site for my classes, so why not get it going now? My Masters’ study has me reading an interesting book by Will Richardson- “Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms”. The book is inspiring me to stop and think about the vast changes school has gone through in the last twenty years. Remember when we were in Middle School- the ‘computer lab’ had two giant boxes with black and orange text on which we used to play the ‘Oregon Trail’ game. Now, eighty percent of our students have Internet at home, and millions of kids are creating their own content online. I think it’s about time we stepped up in the schools and started teaching kids how to responsibly access the insane amount of information at their fingertips. I’ve spent the last weeks pouring over teacher-created blogspots that do amazing things linking academics with technology. I don’t think I’d be ready to start the year without giving this a try.

My plan here is to share the sites I have studied and brainstorm which type of blog will work best for my kids. Hopefully, I can get a few of my colleagues on board to work through the technology with me.

Resources:

Richardson, Will. (2009). Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms. California: Corwin Press.