Teacher Readiness for the 21st Century Learner

How well prepared do you feel for 21^st century teaching and learning?       

I feel that I am somewhat prepared for 21^st century teaching and learning.  There are a lot of skills that I possess, but I am also cognizant of the fact that technology changes at such a rapid pace that I must always be aware of what is happening in the realm of technology and the 21^st century learner.

I believe my post important strength is that I possess a teachable spirit.  This may sound oxymoronic, but I am proud to admit that I am very humble.  I do not know everything.  There is always some way that I can improve myself, and this definitely includes the area of technology in education. 

I have been out of the classroom for seven years.  This first year back has taught me many things.  Reflecting on this year, I realize two important components to the 21^st century learner:

1.       They are all visual learners.

2.      They more technology that can be infused into a lesson, the more engaged the students are.

I have to admit that I have struggled with this.  When I was a freshman in high school, my English class consisted of a textbook, and teacher, and a spiral notebook.  Our job was to listen to the teacher and regurgitate the answers on the test.  (I think I turned out fine, but I could be sorely mistaken).  The old methods and pedagogies are no longer best practices.  It almost seems like teachers need to be constantly coming up with new gimmicks to hook students into a lesson.  This can be tiring, but when I do successfully trick my kids into learner, I feel a great sense of pride.

Do your students leave your classroom equipped for success using 21^st century skills? 

After researching the major skills that we as teachers need to be assisting our 21^st century learners with, I was pleasantly surprised to discover that I was actually covering many of the skills, even though I was not aware of it.  Some of these skills include helping students become critical thinkers, problem solvers, good communicators, technically literate, flexible and adaptable, innovative and creative, globally competent, and financially literate.

I teach struggling readers, and looking at these skills, I feel that the two skills I cover the most are critical thinking and effective communicating.  For example, I have a student who is obsessed with professional wrestling.  He is convinced that professional wrestling is real because he read it on the internet.  With the vast amount of information available to our students, it is of vital importance that we teach them how to analyze this information critically.

I am also really big on teaching social skills.  Many of my lessons revolve around cooperative learning.  I think that when we put students into cooperative learning groups that it reflects the real life, world experiences that will have in the workforce after high school. 

Admittedly, I have a long way to go.  Everything is changing all the time, and in order to be an effective teacher, I need to be aware of these changes and cognizant of my students’ needs.

What are your strengths and challenges in regards to 21^st century teaching and learning?

I am fairly competent when it comes to finding materials on the internet.  I feel that with the advent of the internet I have been able to enhance many of my lessons by showing students pictures or videos in the goal of activating prior knowledge before reading.  Many of my students have lived in the same 10 block radius in the city for their entire lives.  Without sufficient background knowledge from life experiences, then reading comprehension is much more difficult.  Therefore it is my job to expose my students to this background knowledge with the goal of becoming better readers.

I also think I am competent in teaching critical thinking.  My students are aware of the metacognitive process.  One of the common complaints in my classroom is, “Mr. A, why do you always want to know why we think something?”  Although this may seem negative to my students, I realize I am doing my job when I am helping them to know why they are thinking about what they are thinking about.

One challenge I face is fear of using new technology.  It is much easier to fall back on old lesson plans that have always worked and not take a chance on a new idea or using a new technology.  In addition to EDU 545, I will also be taking several technology based courses offered through our district.

Overall, if we want to be effective teachers, we must also possess a teachable spirit and a “no fear” attitude when it comes to implementing new technologies in the classroom.

Following standards and having no fear

How are you doing at meeting the NETS standards?
After checking the ISTE website for current teaching standards, I was surprised to find out that I am acutally covering quite a few of them, desipte the fact that I was doing so unknowingly.  For example, the second standard states to "design and develop digital learning experiences and assessments."  I feel that this is something I cover almost everyday.  The class that I teach is called Read180.  It is a reading program designed to assist strugglinlg readers.  Students are required to spend at least 20 minutes a day on the R180 software.  I can then tailor my mini-lessons based on the feedback (assessement) provided by the software. 

In addition to the R180 software, I also incorporate online journals, magazines, and newspapers in attempt to engage my students.  Many of my students come from homes where reading is not valued.  In most cases school is the only place my students will have the opportunity to read, and for the 21st century learner, it seems like they will be more engaged if they are reading text off a screen rather than text in a book.

What are the barriers to technology use in your professional setting?
It seems that the common mantra in education is to do more with less.  In other words, we are always required to incorporate new technology...but with less money.  I know that our school is not unique in this problem and that many others can relate to this problem.

Despite budget crunches felt in the district, my classroom is pretty blessed.  My position is funded through title I, and all of the equimpment I have is also funded through Title I.  That said, I think the biggest barrier to technology use in my professional setting would be myself.  Although I consider myself a digital native, there are still a lot of things that I need to learn.

How does the Biblical command to "fear not" apply to your technology use?
I think fear is what would be holding me back from incorporating technology in my classroom.  The fear that I might ruin something is prevalent, and I have noticed that this fear is not a quality associated with today's 21st century learner.  Like anything else in life, fear is often associated to the unknown.  Once something is brought out of the darkness and into the light, then it becomes less scary.  So it goes with implementing technology into the classroom.

What are your personal goals as you begin this class on technology?
One of my main goals is to have practical, ready to use, standards based lesson plans that will be avialiable for immediate implementation.  To supplement my learning in this class I will also be taking several day long classes offered by our school district this summer.

Another goal is to get over some of my fears as far as using technology in the classroom.  The methods used to teach my generation aren't going to engage the 21st century learner. 

Finally, I need to learn more about troubleshooting if there is a technology problem in the classroom.  I have learned the hard way to make sure everything is in good working order before a lesson begins.  It is pretty frightening to have 30 students staring at you when the technology you need is not working. 

Matt A.