Successful teaching of an objective requires two things: a deep understanding of the content and the ability to choose the most effective strategy to deliver it. Today, teachers are challenged to address twenty-first century skills and prepare students for the future, but unfortunately, not many succeed in doing so. If we ask teachers to define or list twenty-first century skills, how many will struggle with the task? And those who are able to name them, most likely, will scramble with deep explanations and specific examples of what each looks like in a classroom. Even if teachers know and clearly understand what these skills are, how many of them are successful in choosing effective strategies to teach them? Such methods were not introduced in their college pedagogy classes. Certainly, they did not experience this type of learning when they were in school and, most likely, did not observe it during their internship. I cannot agree more with Will Richardson (2010) that teachers "cannot honestly discuss twenty-first century learning skills for our students until we [teachers] make sense of them for ourselves" (Richardson, p. x).
Teachers must initiate personal professional development in order to be able to serve students of today. They need to connect with other educators, investigate new possibilities and ideas, try them out, reflect, and do whatever it takes to polish the craft of teaching. Technology is the tool that allows teachers to develop personal learning network full of learners invested in their passion. From blogs to Twitter, online communities are buzzing with new ideas and strategies for educators. The only obstacle teachers encounter is themselves! It is not mandatory to be a part of an online learning community, but it is a sign of a passionate educator who walks the talk of 21-century schooling, experiences new ways of learning, and does so along with students. Before they can educate, teachers must experience what it feels like to be a part of a learning community in which people share ideas, provide specific feedback to improve own work, collaborate, and create content that matters to others. For instance, most teachers allow student to publish their work online, but not many realize that the real learning takes place after the publishing. Richardson (2010) calls it the real power of "The Read/Write Web." Through communication and collaboration with others, a published piece continues to be a "working draft." It is revised, reflected on, and questioned by multiple readers. With real audience, student are invested in their work and want to continuously clarify own thinking and revise writing. Learning is not about product, it's about the process: engaging, collaborative, challenging, and relevant.
Submerging in the world of instructional technology while working on my Master's six years ago enable me to learn more about Web 2.0 tools and develop powerful strategies to implement them. I fell in love with wikis, Voice Thread, Wixie, Storybird, Voki, and many other tools. They helped me turn my class into a "buzzing" community of students who began work harder than I did. Collaboration and communication gradually replaced lectures and flipchart presentations, and I watched my students' creativity and individualities bloom. Of course, it was not a smooth transition for me! I made many mistakes, changed lesson plans every few hours, listened to my students, assessed their progress, and continuously researched. Even the physical appearance of my classroom changed: round tables and clusters of seating areas supplanted the rows of desks and "teacher's area." It was a painful growth for me, and I could not have done it without connecting with educators passionate about the same things. Because of them, I was brave enough to "tap into the potential that these [Web2.0] tools give us for learning" (Richardson, p. 9).
This year our district is integrating itsLearning, a new online learning platform. From the start, I want my teachers to view this tool as a place for students, not teachers. Teachers need to avoid uploading files and study guides with answer keys for kids to print out because an online learning environment should not be a static place! I encourage them to let students take control of learning, collaborate, engage, and communicate with each other. Teachers should become facilitators and co-learners instead of being gatekeepers of the content. Every imaginable Web 2.0 tool can be easily integrated in each course to help students connect with peers and professionals around the world.
This semester, I am looking forward to learning more about video casting tools. As an instructional technology specialist, I’m often asked to provide screenshots to explain how new tools work. I would like to become more comfortable creating short video tutorials while effectively utilizing my time and providing necessary support to the staff. Developing these skills will also help me support teachers in transition to the flipped classroom model. I know that many students in our building use screen-casting apps on their devices to demonstrate what they learn, so I need to explore a variety of such tools. Moreover,I want to video cast great strategies I observe in different classrooms and share the ways passionate teachers weave strong pedagogy into “The Read/Write Web.”
References
Richardson, W. (2010). Blogs, wikis podcasts, and other powerful web tools for classrooms. California: Corwin A SAGE Company.
Teachers must initiate personal professional development in order to be able to serve students of today. They need to connect with other educators, investigate new possibilities and ideas, try them out, reflect, and do whatever it takes to polish the craft of teaching. Technology is the tool that allows teachers to develop personal learning network full of learners invested in their passion. From blogs to Twitter, online communities are buzzing with new ideas and strategies for educators. The only obstacle teachers encounter is themselves! It is not mandatory to be a part of an online learning community, but it is a sign of a passionate educator who walks the talk of 21-century schooling, experiences new ways of learning, and does so along with students. Before they can educate, teachers must experience what it feels like to be a part of a learning community in which people share ideas, provide specific feedback to improve own work, collaborate, and create content that matters to others. For instance, most teachers allow student to publish their work online, but not many realize that the real learning takes place after the publishing. Richardson (2010) calls it the real power of "The Read/Write Web." Through communication and collaboration with others, a published piece continues to be a "working draft." It is revised, reflected on, and questioned by multiple readers. With real audience, student are invested in their work and want to continuously clarify own thinking and revise writing. Learning is not about product, it's about the process: engaging, collaborative, challenging, and relevant.
Submerging in the world of instructional technology while working on my Master's six years ago enable me to learn more about Web 2.0 tools and develop powerful strategies to implement them. I fell in love with wikis, Voice Thread, Wixie, Storybird, Voki, and many other tools. They helped me turn my class into a "buzzing" community of students who began work harder than I did. Collaboration and communication gradually replaced lectures and flipchart presentations, and I watched my students' creativity and individualities bloom. Of course, it was not a smooth transition for me! I made many mistakes, changed lesson plans every few hours, listened to my students, assessed their progress, and continuously researched. Even the physical appearance of my classroom changed: round tables and clusters of seating areas supplanted the rows of desks and "teacher's area." It was a painful growth for me, and I could not have done it without connecting with educators passionate about the same things. Because of them, I was brave enough to "tap into the potential that these [Web2.0] tools give us for learning" (Richardson, p. 9).
This year our district is integrating itsLearning, a new online learning platform. From the start, I want my teachers to view this tool as a place for students, not teachers. Teachers need to avoid uploading files and study guides with answer keys for kids to print out because an online learning environment should not be a static place! I encourage them to let students take control of learning, collaborate, engage, and communicate with each other. Teachers should become facilitators and co-learners instead of being gatekeepers of the content. Every imaginable Web 2.0 tool can be easily integrated in each course to help students connect with peers and professionals around the world.
This semester, I am looking forward to learning more about video casting tools. As an instructional technology specialist, I’m often asked to provide screenshots to explain how new tools work. I would like to become more comfortable creating short video tutorials while effectively utilizing my time and providing necessary support to the staff. Developing these skills will also help me support teachers in transition to the flipped classroom model. I know that many students in our building use screen-casting apps on their devices to demonstrate what they learn, so I need to explore a variety of such tools. Moreover,I want to video cast great strategies I observe in different classrooms and share the ways passionate teachers weave strong pedagogy into “The Read/Write Web.”
References
Richardson, W. (2010). Blogs, wikis podcasts, and other powerful web tools for classrooms. California: Corwin A SAGE Company.