21st Century School Teacher

"Those who have most at stake in the old culture, or are most rigid in their beliefs, try to summon people back to the old ideas."

Teacher’sUnion Leader Pessimistic on Contract by Bill Turque  Washington Post Staff Writer reveals that D.C. Schools Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee’s latest proposal would require tenured teachers to spend a year on probation in exchange for huge salary increases and bonuses.  Yes!  An opportunity to change an antiquated pay scale —an opportunity for tenured teachers to see their compensation more in line with their expertise…  Will this proposal become a reality?  Likely not… 

Union Leader George Parker said “Rhee's measure would unfairly deprive teachers of due process rights and expose them to arbitrary firing by principals.”  Come on…

What do teachers really have to fear? Sure there are a few teachers that just aren’t getting the job done…  Those that have the most at stake—hmmm….. like the teachers’ union and poor performing teachers—they will likely be the ones to put the kibosh on this very interesting proposal. 

I say what’s more important?  That we preserve the old system, a system that rewards time served, or that we start to reward quality educators and weed out the teachers that aren’t performing?  As a parent and tax payer, I’m thinking I’d vote in favor of such a proposal…  I’m thinking that if I were a teacher in Washington D.C. I would be in favor of this measure, as well.  I’m proud to say that I am a dang good educator, and I would gladly put myself on probation for a year to increase my salary: teachers with five years of experience could go from $46,500 to as much as $101,000 by 2010. Pay for a teacher with 10 years of service could jump from $56,200 to as much as $122,500.  It’s about time that teachers are paid what they’re worth, and if some teachers fear that they are not worth the pay, well…  what can I say about that… 

It happened to me for the first time last year... I found myself daydreaming about being a P.E. teacher--the coveted class--the comfortable shoes--fewer papers to grade...  Wish as I may, I'm not highly qualified in Phys-Ed, dampening my delusion--so fear not young children... 

It might not be PC to say, but as an English  teacher, I work longer hours, investing many hours after school and on the weekend to assess student writing...   That has always been just fine with me.  I love the content, I love preparing for my lessons, and I love the reward of getting to know the students through their work.  And I know that in any profession, there will always be those that invest more of their personal time--given that, is the way that we pay teachers a symptom of something greater?  If we compensated teachers based on their performance, would student learning improve appreciably?  One school is going to find out soon...  I ran across and interesting article in Teacher Magazine about a New York charter school that is going to pay teachers a starting salary of $125,000, Charter School Offers Revolutionary Salary--I'm not from NY, and I'm not a math teacher either--but that equates to about double what 10 year teaching veteran with a MA and National Board certification makes in my state.  Schools need reform--and maybe if we began to reward teachers for the quantifiable strides that they are making in their classrooms, some of the measurable apathy that so often lurks behind closed doors would wane and we would see assessable academic improvement. I'm going to be keeping my eye on The Equity Project (TEP) Charter School.

I was surfin' the web a bit tonight and stopped back by THE TWAIN BLOG.  A recent post titled  Whale of a time!  really resonated with me...  I related to his metaphor, and I appreciate someone saying what I'm thinking--where is the divergent thinking?  I agree that the majority of blogs that I'm reading are saying the same things--and I'm totally at fault here, too...  Why is it that we can't seem to get on with it?  Move beyond the rhetoric and drive more change in the classroom.  As I spend more time on the web, which isn't much as I have a 3 year old daughter, I am astounded by the growing number of tools that are available to educators and students...  I thought that I was doing a pretty good job incorporating Web 2.0 into my curricula, but I really had no idea how many new possibilities could be leveraged by educators...  I spent some time today on slideshare--wow!  I happened upon a website by Marta Z. Kagan... self-proclaimed social media evangelist--take a look how social media is influencing the world outside of education...

So I guess I'm wondering, what's next? Where do we go from here?  How do we move the conversation along so that more educators and students are benefiting from the dialog?

The more time I spend surfing the net and reading edubloggers’ blogs, the more I realize that there isn’t a whole lot of new conversation taking place…correct me if I’m wrong here…  And I’m not suggesting that these discussions should stop either—they are driving change, but clearly the momentum needs to shift away from discussion about why our educational institution needs to be transformed or from what web 2.0 can do for today’s learners to how teachers can make adjustments and modifications to their pedagogy to move the evolution of 21st century educational reform along—It is time to create a workable framework for educational transformation (based on something deeper than the idea of student engagement). There are hoards of teachers ready to make needed changes to their practice, and their fragmented approaches are the beginnings of systemic change, but let’s begin to create a working scaffold that can be used and adapted by all classroom teachers—a framework that demands attention by administrators and policy makers as well…   

Already there are 21st century learning frameworks being designed, but why aren’t they being exploited by teachers—are they based too much in theory and philosophy?  Are they only being circulated in too lofty of circles?  We need to put a real plan in the hands of those in the trenches… 

Truly, teachers are doing the best that they can at any given point in time—so to expect monumental change certainly requires more than a jump-on-the-bandwagon call to action.  Many teachers today are given out-dated or irrelevant curricula that they are required to use—scripted and standardized… Teachers today are required to test students more than ever before--they're told that this will help to ensure results on state tests that measure dated standards—leaving less and less time for instruction…  In many cases, teachers today spend as much time working outside of the classroom, assessing and planning, as they do during the school day—many teachers today would say that there is little time left over in their day to innovate…  Teachers I know don’t have easy access to technology on a daily basis…  Under the guise of equity, teachers today are being required to focus more heavily on the bottom third than the remainder—the remainder that needs educational challenge just the same…  Teachers today want change, but often feel their hands are tied by lack of resources and district mandates. So where do these teachers begin—that is the challenge ahead of us… We must begin to design an adaptable plan so that teachers will be more likely to shift alongside our global transformation…

Take a few minutes to read some edublogs,  or peek in on some Twitter conversations, and invariably you will happen upon a call to action to reform current educational pedagogy and philosophy...  There is a lot of talk, and a growing community of educational visionaries that are taking credible action in their own classrooms, but systemic change will need to be built on something more than a call to action.  Educational leaders (formal or informal) must define what changes need to be made by educators, while providing specific steps that educators must take to create classrooms that are more "21st century" oriented...   Recently, Charles Leadbeater published 21 ideas for what's next in educational reform.  Take a look at "The Innovation Unit" website, or read the article--What's Next...  I like the article because it is a starting place for teachers that want to focus on meaningful reform--not just an addition of new tools to take the place of old...  Teachers are ready to make changes, but I feel that the reason why change is slow or plateauing is because teachers need a better road map.  This article tries to connect the dots--interesting ideas for discussion!

We live in an increasingly complex world—a new, rapidly evolving society that demands transformation of outdated systems and institutions.  How must education change to keep up with the enormous shift that is taking place in our technologically saturated world?  The classrooms of yesteryear are antiquated, and a new approach to education is required to ensure domestic competitiveness in a global economy.  We must reconsider the knowledges we presume are important, while transforming current educational practices to a system emphasizing creativity, collaboration, and innovation--effectively preparing our youth to be leaders in a new, interconnected world.
Elements of 21st Century Education…

Moving away from the teacher as receptacle of knowledge to the teacher as mentor and coordinator of learning…

Understanding that domestic status is dependent on learners’ ability to “learn, unlearn, and relearn…”  --Alvin Toffler, Futurist

Adapting to and exploiting new technologies and communication systems as they evolve…

Emphasizing inquiry-based, collaborative, hands-on, self-directed and individualized methodologies…

Combining understanding of current brain research with new technological tools to produce a new curricula…

Identifying and creating new knowledges…

Shifting the design of learning processes to the learner…

Changing the fundamental philosophies of teaching and learning…

Systemic change in our education system…
    
21s Century Education is Not…

Replacing old tools with new tools that function essentially in the same way… i.e. chalkboard to electronic whiteboard…

Shifting the focus from content to be covered to lists of skills to be mastered…

Improving scores on standardized tests…

Completing adoption processes year-over-year because “it’s time…”

Using technology solely for engagement purposes…

21st Century Education is…

Understanding students’ backgrounds so that teachers can build on students’ prior knowledge...
 
Partnering with students to formulate questions that are relevant to their individual educational experience...

Mastering content that builds a foundation for creating new ideas and knowledges with a global relevance…

Creating collaborative learning communities that innovate and create

Understanding and exploiting technologies as they are introduced

Beyond doubt, our educational leaders will need to make a dramatic shift in their thinking to produce a new educational system that is strikingly unlike that which came before.  With the multitude of changes that have taken place in our world over the past 300 years, one institution remains unwaveringly the same: it is imperative for our leaders, administrators, teachers, and learners to embrace the work that is ahead, the work that will define a new system of education steeped in the realities of global change…  We must rethink how we create learning experiences for students so that they are ready for a different kind of society—one that is continuously transforming…