What Will Teaching in the 21st Century be Like?
Professor Dancealot
The video
Professor Dancealot by Kari Johnson
demonstrates one very important concept
to teaching in the 21st century, or
really teaching in anytime. Students must be engaged! Simple instruction does not and cannot get the message across. Johnson shows this through the professor demonstrating the dance steps behind a podium where no one could see him and through the lack of engagement of the students. The professor's use of a Powerpoint Presentation to display information was intriguing, but the technology was wasted on the professor's lack of interaction with his students. He merely stood behind his podium, dancing to an audience that could not see a single step he was taking. The students were not allowed to move, dance, or discuss any of what was being taught; therefore, the students could not learn the material. When it came time for the final exam, the students had not danced one single step with instruction. They had to dance with their partners and their books. This is absurd! Without the interaction and engagement of actually performing the steps in class, the students were all profoundly unable to retain or apply the information they had been given. I absolutely agree with this conclusion. Students must engage in what they are learning. If they are not properly challenged and given a chance to participate, most students will stop trying to learn. Having gone to a very small highschool and having known everyone in the school, I have seen this so many times. In my experience, I have found this fact to be true every time.
Teaching in the 21st Century
In the video
Teaching in the 21st Century, Kevin Roberts makes a very compelling arguments of what it means to teach in the 21st century. Since kids can learn facts from a variety of sources on the internet, Roberts states that teachers are obsolete if they merely teach facts in a classroom; therefore, teachers must become facilitators of learning skills from these sources. Roger argues this through a number of examples, including these below.
- Students can learn from blogs, Facebook, Twitter, Wikipedia, and many other sources.
- Because these sources can be very unreliable, teachers should show their students how to use these sources to validate, synthesize, leverage, communicate, and collaborate information.
- Curriculums should no longer be focused on fact, but they should focus on teaching the students skills to carry with them through life to help solve everyday problems.
- Students should be taught to create and collaborate without pencil and paper but by harnessing the technology they have in front of them.
- Teachers should facilitate responsibility, reliability, and integrity in the students. Rogers points out that we all expect students to learn wrong behavior from their peers. Teachers must then deter this, teaching the students professionalism.
- Rogers believes we should rethink how to teach by reconsidering the types of tools we use and the types of problems we ask students to solve.
- Students should be able to use technology to their benefit, problem solving and collaborating with other students and gaining skills by sharing their ideas with others.
- Most importantly, teaching means engaging the students. Technology cannot create distractions if the students are fully engaged.
- Entertainment and engagement are not the same actions. Technology is no longer new, it is established with today's generations; therefore, using technology should not be about shiny new toys any longer. Technology is about engagement.
livebinder.com.jpeg "Source: www.livebinder.com")
So what does it really mean to teach in the 21st century? I fully stand by Roberts opinions when it comes to how teaching is changing and what it will mean for us to teach in this century. As a future educator, I find that everything that Roberts has said to be highly interesting. Having been educated only in the 21st century, I have begun to see these changes. Robert's says, "Change cannot occur without conflict," and he is absolutely right. Still in my classes today, many of my teachers are opposing rather than embracing technology. They taught without technology before, so they still want to teach without technology. I myself have seen the opposition, but I have also seen the progress technology is making in schools. By the time I become an educator, I believe even more of this opposition will have subsided. We as educators in the 21st century will be expected, if not required, to teach through technology, so we must embrace it before we get behind even further! Teaching in the 21st century starts with us, the teachers who are just now learning to teach!
The Networked Student
What She Thinks:
In the video
The Networked Student, the author Wendy Dexler discusses the argument that teachers are to empower students to take control of their own learning through connectivism. According to Wendy, in connectivism, "learning occurs as a part of a social network of many diverse connections and ties." This connected network is made possible by the tools of technology, but the tools are not nearly as important as the connections made possible by them. Making these connections with others will strengthen a student's own learning process. Students create their own personal learning networks consisting of blogs, scholarly articles, and other credible material in order to build a knowledge base that they can then share through a blog of their own. This brings about the question, why then would a student need a teacher at all? Teachers are there to show students how to build these networks and take advantage of their opportunities. Teachers provide guidance for their students by teaching proper communication and respect as well as information management. Teachers are there to guide children towards their futures.
What I Think:
For general purposes, I agree with the argument of this video. Students should be more responsible for their own learning instead of expecting it to be spoon fed to them. Connecting with others almost always reinforces what is being learned. In my drama class, we are allowed to do quizzes with our groups. My teacher admits that in today's society, we enjoy being able to confer with others about answers. Even if we know we are absolutely right, it always helps to hear another's opinion to boost our confidence. This connected network is a variation of this. Finding other students who are learning the same things we are or struggling with the same things we are is a confidence boost. Connecting with other gives us the sense that we are not alone in the learning process. Why then do we need teachers if we are going to do everything on our own? Well, we should not be doing everything on our own. Personal learning networks are for the benefit of the students, not the detriment. Some students become overwhelmed when working on projects by themselves, I myself being one. Others excel at personal projects. Personal learning networks should not be the learning goal, but the learning facilitator. The teacher should support and help her students, especially those who do not understand internet etiquette or those who need his or her guidance. Teachers should be the facilitators and guiders of learning, technology should provide the connected networks that reinforce learning.
Harness Your Students' Digital Smarts
In the video
Harness Your Students' Digital Smarts by Vicki Davis, Mrs. Davis makes the considerable argument that students should be empowered to learn new things by sharing with each other and other students all over the world. Mrs. Davis uses technology to connect her students to other students across the globe. She believes that every student can learner, but certain types of children learn in certain ways. As she is in her classroom, she attempts to be a "teacherpreneur." To her, this means that in order to be an effective teacher, she customizes what happens in her classroom according to the group of students that is in her room and how they learn. When she teaches, she expects her students to able to use technology to research anything they are unclear on, such as the meaning of new words she uses. Mrs. Davis wants students to be thinkers, and in turn, she and the class experiences technology and its trends together.
I believe that Mrs. Davis is brilliant in her use of "teacherpreneuring." Each class of students is vastly different from the next, and each class needs its own way of doing things. She learns as her students learn. We have already experienced this idea as we entered into this class. Teachers are to teach and to learn. Students are to learn and to teach. If not in teaching the teacher, students should help to teach one another. I believe that empowering students to use technology to their learning advantages must have a positive effect on the classroom. Students must be thinkers! Never again should a student think or say, "teach me so I don't have to learn," as one of Dr. Strange's students said. Teachers should empower students to think for themselves and share their knowledge globally.
Who's Ahead in the Learning Race?
Take a look around at school sometime, and then take a look around a restaurant, the grocery store, or any other place with any amount of toddlers and young children in it. Who are on digital devices more these days, adults? No, it's the adults children! Who is really ahead in the learning race? According to the video
Who's Ahead in the Learning Race? by Dr. John H. Strange, it is truly obvious that we are being quickly left behind by today's younger generation. On Dr. Strange's visit to Gulf Shores Elementary School, he noticed several similarities in the activities that the elementary school children were performing and the activities that he was teaching his undergraduate and graduate students. All of the kids had either a Macbook or iPad to use and were working them with skill and ease, something some of us have trouble with. The students were using programs some as Google Docs and iMovie. They were making forums, posting on blogs, and even using rubrics! These were just elementary students! Clearly they are ahead of all of the rest of us, but it's not a bad thing. If we are going to teach in the 21st century, then I am glad students are beginning to learn how to learn in the 21st century! I may be a bit behind in the learning race, since I have yet to learn some of those programs that the elementary students were using, but I hope to catch up very soon.
Flipping the Classroom
Flipping the Classroom by Ms. Munafo explains the new concept of "flipping" certain classes in schools. This was a completely new idea to me, but nonetheless fascinating. According to this video, flipping is an "innovative approach to classroom instruction." It involves students watching a video the night before the class of the lesson that is to be discusses in the class the next day. This then allows the student to come prepared to discuss the lesson instead of the teacher using class time to go over the lesson and then talk about it.
I do not exactly know if this method would be useful and effective for myself or not. This method does seem to engage the student in the classroom, but watching a video at home for homework does not seem very engaging. Most students have a hard time doing their homework as it is, but changing the homework from reading to watching a video could definitely be more appealing to students. I believe this type of teaching would definitely need some experimentation before fully flipping the class, but it does have potential. I believe it could primarily be useful in the areas of Math and Science. As a English teacher myself, I do not know if it will ever be useful. Hopefully my children will do their readings the night before and come into class prepared to discuss, but if not, I will hopefully have this in the back of my mind as a potential solution to any future problems.
Schools are turning more and more towards Project Based Learning lately, and by all means I think this with wonderful based on what I have learned so far; however, by no means do I feel anywhere near ready to teach in this way. I myself have just become a learner on how to educate. Gladly, I have at least two and half more years to figure out how to become a teacher. I know that I will be able to embrace being both a teacher and a learner in a setting where technology has such importance. Although I am not prepared yet, I would still say that I have some strengths that will be very useful in becoming a project based teacher. I have a strong desire to learn that leads me to being open to trying new things. I am not afraid to be a learner with my future students. I do not expect to gain all the knowledge I need during college and then never learn anything else. I expect to and hope that I will learn something new every day of my life, so I am not ashamed when I do not know the right answers. I also love exploring new technology. I could sit and click around on a computer all day long just to see what it can do and be perfectly happy. Of course with strengths come weaknesses. I have had no exposure to any type of learning such as this before this class. Technology and learning while teaching are very new to me. I can honestly say right now I have no idea what I am doing, but I feel as I go through videos such as the ones below and our other assignments, it is becoming clearer how to utilize technology to its fullest.
Ginger Tuck and two of the children in her classroom help to explain the free app Popplet in this video Popplet with Ginger Tuck. Popplet is a way to develop virtual thought webs that include both pictures and text. I actually got out my iPad and downloaded this one for myself. Ginger uses this app of her reading centers, so that the children can read a book and then transfer it into a Popplet. This enhances both the reading skills and typing skills of her students. Students also practice taking pictures of the book when they are making their webs. I was a little confused on exactly what all this could be used for just from watching this video, but when I downloaded it for myself, I decided to not even delete it when I finished exploring it. This is just a great app in general for brainstorming. Its text and picture features provide great tools for all types of brainstorming.
This video, AVL and Kindergarten Students, is such a reinforcement to me of how advanced our kindergarteners can be these days! These children are logging into libraries, choosing what to look up, watching videos and audio on what they find, and then report back on what they have found by writing a sentence about each thing. These students are accountable for their own work. These are pure twenty-first century skills being taught! The abilities of children who are being taught today and how they are being taught just blows my mind.
Zakiah is in Mrs. Schraml's fifth grade class in Independence, Ohio. Zakiah's blog post was a poem she had written about herself. She wrote about her personality, her hobbies, her family, and her interests. I told Zakiah that her post was a great blog post. I always enjoyed writing poems in my classes in school. They really are hard to come up with sometimes, but she did a great job! It’s .jpeg "Source: jayroeder.com")
Garret is a part of Ms. Allison Freitag's class at Iowa High School. Ms. Freitag assigned her class to write about which is more important, talent or hard work. Garret believes that it is hardwork that is the more important one of the two, because hard work is about setting goals and achieving them. 
Personal Learning Networks (PLNs):
According to Tim Wilhemus in Building Your Personal Learning Network, "A Personal Learning Network (PLN) is an extension of the self that enables a learner to harness the knowledge and experiences of many voices through a collaborative connection that may take many forms. Our PLNs represent all of the people with whom we've created a social connection, physically or virtually, and upon whom we can call to enhance our learning." Creating PLNs can help to break down the educational isolations of both teachers and students! According to Dr. Strange in Developing a Personal Learning Network, the information for creating a PLN is everywhere. Just as we once went to the library to do research, we now look to the clouds to find information. No, I don't mean start looking at the sky hoping the answers will rain down on you! Look to the wonderful clouds others before yourself have formed on the internet.
When it comes to questioning, last but definitely not least is knowing how to respond to your own questions as well as responding to student questions. Asking Questions to Improve Learning emphasizes this importance. Key goals when responding to questions are to never answer your own questions, never interrupt, show interest when students respond, and to point out the wrong or weak areas in a response while leading the student into the right answer. Altogether, teachers should lead their students to appreciate the questioning process by the way they ask and respond to questions. Questions should never hinder learning or deter children from interest, but they should only further the learning process.
WoW Search gives the user many options when it comes to what websites they want to search. With WoW, you can search human edited websites, other search engines, or reference pages, all from one simple, easy search page. This would make a wonderful home screen for an internet browser if you are prone to search often. I especially like the reference function, since I am often searching for the meaning of words and their synonyms. The layout is very user friendly, but unfortunately this search engine does not do anything special that other engines cannot do.
IceRocket is an Internet search engine specializing in searching social media. This website allows you to search blogs, twitter, facebook, or all three at the same time. This is wonderful for those of us who are learning about utilizing technology in new forms to further education. Being able to search social media easily without having to navigate unrelated pages that most search engines such as Google include is an absolute blessing. This would give us easy access to new education blogs to read. Plus, you can search key terms, blogs from a specific author, or blogs on a specific page. I am most definitely going to be using this in the future!
According to Blekko's about page on their website, "At Blekko, our mission is to create a differentiated search experience by delivering high quality, curated results and organizing content into categories. Our sophisticated search technology powers our suite of products – a web search engine, mobile app, and social news platform." Blekko is great in its organization. When a term or phrase is searched, the results are categorized into domains on the left hand side of them page. These domains include terms such as top results, latest, jobs, music, and lyrics. Blekko has the potential to rival Google, but it does not provide many of the search services such as videos, news, books, and shopping. I still enjoyed playing around with it and will definitely experiment with it some more. 
In John's last blog, The Upside of Wasting Time, he discusses the fact that the world needs more "time wasters." No, the world does not need to waste time, but wasting time means being encouraged to explore and create in areas that you are interesting. John doodled and wrote throughout his childhood, and now that is exactly what he is doing with his life. Many times, our childhood escapes develop practical applications in our lives, so we should not discourage creative children. Yes, sometimes it bothers us when a child is not paying attention because he or she is daydreaming, doodling, or humming, but classroom should not just be about practical, utilitarian learning. Classrooms should also involve fun, creative ways to accomplish the standards and expectations of the school. 
In order to combat the work of this class and of my others, I am doing my best to get ahead of the game. Who needs a life outside of school, right? No, I know this is not true either. I have set a goal for myself, and I am determined to accomplish that goal. I am going to bury my face into all of my books for these next few weeks, get ahead, and not have to have any cram sessions for the whole semester. The clock is going to be my friend, and if it doesn't want to be, well too bad. I am going to make it my friend.
