21st Century School Teacher

We live in an increasingly complex world—a new, rapidly evolving society that demands transformation of outdated systems and institutions.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…