In an email, twitter post, or from a blog, I received a link to "21 Signs You're a 21st Century Teacher," and thought it was very interesting. I have felt for quite some time that I might be a 21st century teacher. I thought I fit the model… until I read this list... (You might want to read this post before you read my reactions below, or they might not make sense.)
1. I require my students to use a variety of sources for research and they use blogs, podcasts, etc. I even skyped with my class to teach a lesson while I was in hospital.
2. I have my students working on collaborative projects, but not necessarily out of the country. My students live so rurally, just working with a urban student si a huge change. This must be something to strive for…
3. I keep a blog, but don’t necessarily use it to talk to parents. I give them the address… I use my blog to brainstorm, talk with other teachers (especially since we are so rural there is only one high school English teacher in our district), and to post assignments for my students.
4. I really enjoy twitter and I go in spurts using it. The problem I have with twitter is the same as with email and facebook. I find myself checking it too often and not getting other things done, therefore I fear that my students will get distracted as well. So I use it in moderation for my professional life and as an introduction for my classes in a short assignment.
5. Video is such a powerful medium for a variety of uses that I don’t limit its use to just controversy. I use it more for individual interpretation of poetry, writing, sharing new ideas, persuasion, etc..
6. My subs are never left with a simple set of written directions. I have them direct the students to my online lesson plans (for both students and parents) to get their directions. The students are so used to getting links, directions, examples, and other materials from my web page that they can usually sub for themselves.
7. This is funny but I have had my students create a MythSpace page for the Greek gods as an assignment. Funny they should get that close to my real assignment…
8. Wikis are so much more than just study guides. They can be used for portfolios, shared textbooks, all-class brainstorming, shared links for a similar topic categorized by type of technology, and so much more.
9. If sharing lesson plans means that I post them to the internet each day and each week and anyone can see them, not just my students, their parents, and my administrators, then yes, anyone can see mine and they can get a link to my documentation, examples, and resources.
10. Free is my middle name! I love the free resources that is why we use blogger, wikispaces, free email accounts, google docs, animoto, toondoo, and so many more for projects.
11. Professional development is such a personal thing for most teachers that technology has really opened doors for expansion. It used to be that we all filed into an auditorium for the same session and half the people would not be paying attention. Half of those that are paying attention are only paying attention half of the time. Half of those left only listen when the crowd begins to chuckle or a buzzword is used. Half of those are actually getting information from the speaker. And half of those are going to use the information they gained from the presentation. With online resources, you can pick what you want to learn, where you will learn it, who the presenter will be and what you will do with the new information when you get back to your classroom.
12. Virtual field trips have become a weekly occurrence in our district. The students can’t travel for financial reasons, and distance, so it is great to have them visit places for science, art, museums, history, literature and so much more than they would never have had a chance to see.
13. Photo galleries on flickr are a regular occurrence, and when I ask them to write captions for those photos it becomes a writing assignment. We also do sequencing for elementary students based on the stories the pictures tell too!
14. This one is redundant in that we have already talked about virtual field trips.
15. Internet etiquette and safety are a ongoing conversation in every class. If students are going to have access to technology in class everyday, they need to be reminded of these issues every day too. It doesn’t have to take long, but a mention here and there is best.
16. Cell phones are still an issue in our school because we don’t have enough teachers ready to make that massive change to ask them to use them. Not to mention the fact that teachers should not “talking” with students via cell phones for privacy issues. This becomes a catch 22… However, at a minimum, getting the students to not use their cell phones in class is small trouble, but when we tell them they can’t have them, and they hide them in their bags and backpacks, are we just forcing them to lie to us? That really isn’t fair to them because if you look in desk drawers, pockets and purses of the teachers they are there.
17. Summarizing chapters, annotating online texts, and writing reflection blogs entries can be done via twitter, text message, email message, discussion board, blog entry, Facebook status posts, etc. Why limit which medium we are going to use?
18. I don’t need to showcase my student’s work… they post it themselves to YouTube, Facebook, blogs, wikis, etc. (However, I do post links on my lesson plans and blogs of their examples they have made public.)
19. No morning coffee, no RSS feed, but I read my share of blogs, twitter posts and the links in them, and online newspapers, journals and tech magazines while I relax at night before going to bed. (The morning is too hectic with 3 kids to get off to school!)
20. I read the whole thing and even did a bit of research on who else has written about it in their own blogs.
21. I blogged aobut this post, posted the link so people could read the original blog entry, and then posted to facebook and tweeted that I had written this reaction…
Hmmmm...Must be a 21st century teacher…
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