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.