What Does It Mean To Be A 21st Century Teacher?

 

    

Mrs. W's Tech Talk

     21st-century teaching means teaching as you have always taught but with today's tools and technology. It means utilizing everything that is important and relevant to help students be successful in today's ever changing world. 

An effective 21st century teacher must be able to collaborate and work well in a team. Working with others is an important 21st century skill. Learning is believed to be more effective when you can collaborate and share your ideas and knowledge with others. Taking from the text Transforming Learning with New Technology “To become a technology learning and leading educator, you will benefit by organizing a professional learning network” (Robert et al., 2019, p. 117). I strongly believe in the saying that goes “It takes a village", or "Why reinvent the wheel” analogies, as it really does take a village to teach children.

A 21st century teacher is able to adapt to whatever comes their way. The way we teach has changed so much over years, the tools have changed, for example with Smart boards replacing chalkboards, tablets replacing textbooks etc. However, despite the changes that occur, the foundation still remains the same. The 21st century teacher is able to look at their practice and adapt based on the needs of their students. They must be able to adapt their teaching style to include different modes of learning, adapt when a lesson fails, and adapt to new technology. They must be able to adapt to the curriculum and the requirements and be able to use their imagination to teach in creative ways, for instance using an inquiry based approach. The text states that, “In today’s technological age, teachers have much more to teach than just the basics of reading, writing, math, and science” (Robert et al., 2019, p. 99).

A 21st century teacher is a lifelong learner, we don’t  expect learning to only be for our students, but also for us as educators to stay on top of what is current and what’s new in education. 

Reference:

Robert, M., Verock-O'Loughlin, R.-E., Edwards, S. A., & Trust, T. (2019).                 

        Transforming Learning with New Technologies. Hoboken, New Jersey: Pearson.