21st Century Teacher

This was an interesting article that outlined the strong characteristics a teacher should have in the 21st century (technology savvy and skills of a great teacher/leader). Although I am a bit saddened by the fact that this article had many punctuation errors and it was an targeted to an audience of educators-it just made their argument a bit ineffective. It really gave the sense of "With technology, we don't have to worry about the end result, we just have to use it and everything will turn out okay."

Besides the obvious, this article did talk about the key points that would make a captivating educator these days.

21st Century Educator Characteristics:

The Adaptor: An educator who plans out their lessons with technology applications or programs. Someone who is ready with something new and intriguing (whether or not the technology fails them). And someone able to incorporate different learning styles into their lessons.

The Visionary: Being able to use the technology that is out there today and harness it for educational purposes (imagination). Can see what other educators are doing and incorporate their techniques correctly in class.

The Collaborator: Online collaboration between individuals from near and far using such tools as myspace, wikispaces, second life, etc. Must share, contribute, adapt, and invent.

The Risk Taker: It seems that this area is targeted to all the digital immigrants out there-allow the students to figure out the technology and teach others. That's a good idea. But as a digital native, I understand what technology they can use and how they could misuse it, so it's always a good idea to check up on the students and see what they are actually doing.

The Learner: Basically, don't constantly stick to what you know works. If you find something new and interesting, share it. Incorporate it in class and make sure that it is used effectively.

The Communicator: They are fluent in tools and technologies that enable communication and collaboration. They go beyond learning just how to do it, they also know how to facilitate it, stimulate and control it, moderate and manage it.

The Model: Of course teachers are a model to students. Using technology or not, teachers have to be able to set up an example of what they expect to see in their students. If they expect students to be respectful, honest and able to express their opinions in a respectful manner, it better start with the teacher's behavior in doing so.

The Leader: Leadership. Leadership is vitally important in each classroom. And this area summarizes an effective leader. Having a clear vision, skills, incentives, resources, and an action plan leads to change in a classroom. If you are without any of these traits, it may lead to such things as confusion, anxiety and resistance.

Overall, I liked the article. It preaches to a new generation of people that will need to harness the technology out there in order to help students prepare themselves for future jobs in which their skills in technology or just their leadership/collaboration skills can help them create something new.