What does a 21st Century Teacher Look Like?

What Does a 21st Century Teacher Look Like?


If you were to ask me this question back in August, when I was fresh into the Ed Tech cohort at Brock University, I would have thrown some general terms out at you:
Technology.  Real world learning. Differentiated Instruction.     These were some of the buzzwords I knew, and thought gave me an 'in' into the new century of teaching.

But 21st century teaching is none of these things.
And it is all of these things, at the same time.

To be a 21st century teacher you require a 21st century classroom, but this doesn't mean that your classroom  has to be hardwired with all of the latest gadgets and technological innovations.

It is possible to have the most stripped down, basic classroom in the world- and still engage your students by teaching as a 21st century teacher, because the 21st century teacher is one who elevates the learning experiences in their classroom, so that students are exposed to real, meaningful opportunities for creative risk taking and engagement with what they are learning. 

It is not about just using the buzzwords, but about making them work for our students and our classrooms.
I think one of the biggest things that 21st century teaching is- is learning.  If we are committed to joining our students on this crazy ride that is the changing face of our technological world over the past few years- then we will go far toward helping them to navigate this changing climate in healthy, creative ways that will serve them.

I am so happy to see that 21st century teaching is about celebrating creativity, and encouraging students to find their interests- and learn from and through them.

Certainly, the 21st century teacher has a lot to learn- but we teachers are at our best when we are situated as learners, alongside our students!

21st Century teaching isn't just about technology useage (although technology being such an integral component of our century, it goes without saying that it will certainly serve its place)- it is about using our world's growing knowledge base to help us, and our students, become better and more comfortable learners and explorers. 

Podcasting in the Classroom

I had the incredible experience of presenting a workshop (alongside my 'Cohort D' peers) on 'Podcasting in the Classroom' at today's Teaching with Technologies professional development showcase at Brock University (Hamilton campus).

Kirk and I were very excited to be presenting this technology, as it is something that we feel is up and coming in the classroom and poses some very exciting and interesting opportunities for students.

We created a blog in order to keep ourselves, and others interested in podcasting, informed and up to date on developments and activities in the world of podcasting in the classroom.

If you are at all interested in learning more about using this high yield strategy in your classroom (the elements of creativity and the story telling narrative make me particularly happy about this kind of learning), then please take a moment to direct yourself to our blog.

And bookmark it! Because we're going to be updating it as regularly we can during this busy time of the 'teachers college year'!

Check out our blog here
http://podclassting.blogspot.ca/

Got a Question about podcasting? Need an answer?? Then Send an email: edtechclassroompodcasting@gmail.com

'Would You Eat That?'

I just spent the last half hour playing this game, so I felt it worthy of putting up on the ole' blog!


The Chicago Museum of Science and Industry's
Would You Eat That game is a great way to get students considering what vitamins, minerals and chemicals are in some of the foods they may be eating.

Seems like the website, in general, has some pretty great teacher resources.
Definitely worth a look!

iPads- In the Hands of Today's Digital Natives

photo: one of the children I tutor (gr.6) showing me a world
that she created herself on Minecraft 

IPads- In the Hands of Today's Digital Natives 

I remember when the first ipad came out a couple of years ago.  It seems to me that it was marketed more so toward business men and women, and the most I could invision it doing was allowing you to read ebooks and check your email on the fly.  It's size and weight seeming to be the biggest selling features.

Now, less then three years later, I'm seeing ipads in the hands of students- and I'm not just talking about as a note taking device in a University lecture.  The majority of the ipad users I seem to  be encountering are learning how to handle an ipad before they learn how
to drive a car!

Turns out those ipads are not a fad - seems they're going to be sticking around; getting more and more powerful, capable and manageable.  With such user friendly interfaces (I mean, kindergarteners are using these things.. they have to be manageable, right?) they seem to be in a position to bring technology to the 'dinosaurs'; those individuals who have somehow escaped the pull of the laptop/desktop computer, but who are going to find it increasingly difficult to avoid the pull of the ipad- if only for the simple fact that it is now everywhere! And it's so easy to learn, and customize according to your needs, right??
(We just bought my 72 year old granny a tablet for Christmas this past year- we'll see how that fares!)

As an educator I am both intrigued and overwhelmed by the potential uses the ipad has in the classroom.
Just search "ipad in the classroom" on Pinterest alone and it returns hundreds of hits and links to instant resources.
You can't escape the conversation at today's teacher colleges... at least not at Brock.
Even now, as I'm typing this I'm sitting in the library at Brock listening to the people next to me talk about the power of the ipads in today's 21st Century clasrooms.  ( "Apple is taking over the classroom")

I'm curious, of the potential for using the ipad as a creative tool in the classroom.  Certainly their are a number of apps that appeal to the visual artist, movie makers, story tellers, etc. And programs like Minecraft afford children with the opportunity to work their brain in so many creative and interesting ways.

I'm going to be attending (and delivering a workshop!) at Brock's Tech Showcase this Friday.
I am hoping to have a chance to check out some of the ipad workshops, and report back on some of my learning.

Hopefully this edublog will contain more links to resources and fun technology enhanced lesson ideas in the near future!

First SMART Board Tutorial

I had some fun making a short tutorial video on 'How to Build a Reveal Effect' in SMART notebook.
I chose this topic, because
 a) it is simple and easy to implement if you have a basic working knowledge of SMART notebook, and
 b) it makes you look pretty pro :) (Even if it is super simple to achieve)
... I've been asked, on three separate occasions, by other aspiring educators- how I achieved this effect in my SMART lessons, and so I thought it would be a great one to share online!

Hope you check it out and find it useful.
I'd love to come up with a few more of these types of tutorials as I find them very useful, myself.
If you've got time and you want to brush up on your Educational Technologies skills a bit more you should check out the youtube channel for the Ed Tech Cohort that I am proud to be a part of, here at Brock.

There are some very useful tutorials up on this channel, done by my fellow classmates.
We are all learners in this world of Educational Technologies; on our journey toward becoming 21st Century Educators- and one of the most exciting parts of this journey, as far as I am concerned, is this stage of sharing and discovering together!

Check us out here   

Bitstrips for Schools

Bitstrips for Schools is a great tool for engaging students through the creative, storytelling medium of the comic strip.

I made this bitstrip comic as an exemplar for the students in my Grade 7 placement class.

In my Grade 7 placement class we are learning How to identify purpose and audience in various media texts.

We will be using bitstrips so that students can apply their knowledge of purpose and audience through the creation of their own three panel comic strip.  They will be creating comics that appeal to a specific target audience within their school (either primary, junior or intermediate students) and who's purpose is to inform this group of students about an event/activity or issue at play within their school community.

In my example I chose an Intermediate audience and the purpose of informing them that Intermediate students at our school are nervous about receiving their vaccination needles this week.

Earlier in the week, students had the opportunity to explore various types of media texts (book covers, magazine advertisements, newspapers, pamphlets, etc.) and answer questions related to identifying purpose and audience, which they then presented to their classmates.

I was impressed by the students' analysis of these texts and am looking forward to seeing them apply the techniques that proved useful to them during that process (in which they relied heavily on visual cues from the texts to help them identify the purpose and audience) to their comics.

I'm hoping to post a more detailed summary of our adventures exploring this activity, and hopefully will have some examples of student work to share!

I am super excited for this project, and can't wait to learn more about bitstrips!

Edublog Post #6: Review

Note: This blog post is post #6 of a series of 'edublog posts' I'll be creating as part of my EDUC Technology Class.

Hello Gr. 7s,

Since it is one of our goals to get to know our educational technologies more this year, I've been trying to brush up on my skills and come up with some fun, engaging activities for us all.

I've been having lots of fun receiving my SMARTboard training, and hope you've been enjoying the activities we've tried out in class.

But there is another educational technology that will soon be entering our classroom, and that is our class set of ipads, which will be arriving in the next two weeks!

I am very excited to learn more about how ipad usage in the classroom can help us interact with one another and connect with some of the incredible resources that are available to us on the world wide web.

We'll be having some fun developing media projects with our ipads, and developing meaningful interactions with technology that enable us to appreciate the way in which we can use technology as a tool to enhance our creativity, at the same time that we continue to explore nature and 'learning through doing and creating'.

I'm really excited for us all, that we have the opportunity to take part in such an exciting program and know that we will encounter some wonderful things together!

My journey towards technological understanding is an ongoing process, and one that I am excited to share with you all as we learn together!

                                                                                                                                           -Miss Pollard