Yes, the phrase (is it a definition?) 21st century teacher has been bandied about and annoys some people, but whatever you want to call it, shouldn’t we all, as educators, use this checklist to check our relevance? Or at the very least, we could evaluate these checkpoints to determine whether we judge them to be important in the scheme of our work as educators.
As a teacher librarian I can only do these things if I find a willing teacher with a class. Not much you can do without a class – a one-off lesson doesn’t make a great deal of difference. Some of the things I have done with classes include:
- Your students work on collaborative projects…with students in Finland/USA.
- You share lesson plans with your teacher friends…from around the globe. Most teachers don’t see the point of sharing. Sorry, I don’t want to sound critical, but I’m talking about those I know both in my own school and colleagues in my city. I say, try it, and see how much more satisfying teaching becomes. What you get back is amazing. Not to mention valuable connections with other educators. Start a PLN!!
- Your classroom budget is tight…but it doesn’t matter because there are so many free resources on the web you can use. Yes, there is so much out there. I collect it, share it, promote it, but don’t often have any takers. What’s the problem? Teachers are too busy, too content-driven, too VCE-focused (not their fault), too afraid, too put off by technology not working. All valid reasons, I’m not knocking teachers, but from my perspective, I’m always thinking about how I can make a difference here.
- You realize the importance of professional development…and you read blogs, join online communities, and tweet for self development. Oh yes, definitely, perhaps compulsively. Love it. Highly recommend it. Does it eat into you personal life? It becomes your life.
- Your students share stories of their summer vacation…through an online photo repository. Yes, one of my classes used Flickr to share aspects of their life with classes in Finland/USA
- You showcase your students’ original work…to the world. This is something I feel strongly about. Authentic audience, global sharing. Students love receiving comments from people outside the school. Whatever I create, I make sure it’s out there for everyone. I’m proud of what I/we do.
- You have your morning coffee…while checking your RSS feed. What do you think I did before writing this post. The rest of my family are still asleep. Yes, I know, I’m nuts.
Some of these have given me ideas –
- You give weekly class updates to parents…via your blog (I have documented class activity in blogs, but haven’t gone the step further to sharing with parents. What a great idea.
- Your students participate in class…by tweeting their questions and comments. (I would love to do this but I’m not sure about permissions. Fear of social media is still prevalent at school. I think this needs education.
- You ask your students to study and create reports on a controversial topic…and you grade their video submissions. (Teachers have begun to offer videos as presentation options, but a consistent assessment rubric would be a good idea, and there is still the feeling that writing is most important as this is what is assessed in year 12. Videos are okay in middle years but after that teachers start to get nervous, understandably. We need an assessment revolution.
- You prepare substitutes with detailed directions…via Podcasts. What a great idea! Yesterday I was talking to a teacher from another school who records his corrections as podcasts. I love that. And I think it would be less laborious than squeezing everything you want to say in the margins.
- Your students create a study guide…working together on a group wiki. Another great idea! I’ve seen nings allow students to discuss essay topics and texts so that ideas and content are developed collaboratively. I might search for examples of study guide wikis to see what these look like. Any suggestions?
- You visit the Louvre with your students…and don’t spend a dime. Must do this with an art class. Or any class.
- You teach your students not to be bullies…or cyberbullies. How do I convince teachers that taking the time to teach responsible and productive online behaviour is just as important as a content lesson? Again, I blame the system
- You make your students turn in their cell phones before class starts…because you plan on using them in class. Bit of a sore point at school; we still ban many things. I am required to chastise students who play games on their notebooks, but at the same time, I show them problem-solving games on my iPad. We need a mindshift.
The last point: You tweet this page, blog about it, “like” it, or email it to someone else…
Yes, I write a blog post, tweet it, and add it to Facebook. I’m not writing this for myself…
What about you?
Read the full list here.
I get students to create a Google site and use all sorts of web tools to allow them to create work in whatever formats suit them – they link or preferably embed their work into their site – this way they have access from home and school and can share their work with their parents as well. Learning is better and they are more motivated to revise. Tools we have used so far include Prezi, Glogster, Voki, Zondle, SlideRocket – and I’m always on the lookout for more.
If I wasn’t following others on Twitter I wouldn’t know about half of this stuff so I totally agree about that. How do we get non-techy teachers to buy into this concept? It is something I have recommended to Senior Team that all teachers should be doing as part of their CPD especially when money is so tight.
Thanks for sharing! I love the phrase “self-development” reading /writing blogs and following twitter is what I do because I want to better for my kids, this is self-development. My professional development committee does require or even allow credits for this learning and improvement. Sad as this is the BEST professional/self development I have encountered in my 19 years as an educator and it’s FREE!
I liked this article a lot! Fell motivated to keep trying technology for my teaching practice!
Great stuff! Think about how much teachers could improve their craft if we all were building our PLNs and collaborating!!
So nice to find a kindred spirit! Thanks for a great post!
Thankyou all, for your feedback. I love it when I discover new people and their blogs!