Eight Habits of Highly Effective 21st Century Teachers

With this blog posts come a great article as well as some news concerning my career.

First of all the great article! When I was at Region 16 ESC one of the trainings we offered was a Web 2.0 Boot Camp. I have written about the details of this training in the past, but I bring it up now because we ran a 2009 version as well. One of the participants of that course shared some great bookmarks with me on delicious and one of them was right up the alley of this blog.

Eight Habits of Highly Effective 21st Century Teachers is a great article written by Andrew Churches who is in charge of Information Technology at Kristin School in Auckland. He believes that teachers who strive to be considered a "21st Century Teacher" exhibt the following eight qualities:

1. Adapting
2. Being Visionary
3. Collaborating
4. Taking Risks
5. Learning
6. Communicating
7. Modelling Behavior
8. Leading

As I reflect on these 8 qualities, I realize that these are qualities we also want to encourage in our students to be successful in the 21st century. My question is, then, does this mean that to be able to successfully prepare our students for life after school, we must also be willing ourselves to step outside the box of traditional teaching? I will even go as far as to say the task is near impossible to prepare students for the 21st century life for the strickly traditional teacher.

As I've mentioned before, I am not saying that things "we've always done" should go out the window, but I encourage and challenge today's teachers to take a long hard look at what you do in your classroom and ask yourself:

How is this relevant to learning?
What

is the purpose of this task?

If the answers to those questions do not reflect a 21st century type of learning, then maybe it's time to retire that lesson. With the way things change so quickly, it is no longer "okay" to create your lessons once never to have a look at them again.

Do you have any other questions teachers should consider when evaluating their lessons according to 21st century learning and education?

Now for the news! I have left my job at Region 16 Education Service Center. There were many reasons behind my decision to leave - some of them personal - but one of the main reasons is because I would like to focus more on instructional technology and the job, for various reasons, was turning into a grant management position. While grants are necessary and very helpful, I found that I was not able to focus as much on getting technology into the hands of teachers and changing classrooms. After much discussion with my husband, I felt this was the best move for me - both personally and professionally.

I do have plans to stay heavily involved in the Instructional Technology world, though "the plan" is 100% ready to go so I shall refrain from discussing that until it's all ready to go. I have also been blessed with the opportunity to teach some online professional development classes for Texas Virtual School. This has helped keep me busy during the day (though I've been plenty busy trying to get my house in shape after moving into our new house in March), plus provide some extra spending money.

Stay tuned for further developments and hopefully you'll see more and more posts with some great information!

Go forth and be a great 21st Century Educator!

Blogging as a Tool for 21st Century Learning

Great article! I highly encourage you to read this article and reflect on the possibilities for doing something like this in your classroom. Not sure who you could collaborate with? Get out there and start "talking" to people or even start a blog yourself and put the request out there. You might be surprised to find someone else who would be willing to join you!

Blogging in Place: Writing That Explores New Neighborhoods
Edutopia 1.7.09
Written by Momo Chang

This article doesn't mention math or science, but there are many ways to use blogging with those core subjects as well. One idea is to have the students journal about the different climates of their area. Someone who has always lived in Houston, Texas may not fully understand what it's like to live where it's very cold. You could also have your students journal measurements of different buildings and compare (ex. Supermarkets) with the other class. You could even go as far as to have your students make a virtual replica of the buildings so the other class could "visit." There are so many possibilities...what are some ideas that you have? Please share with us - that's how we learn!

Good 'Ol Days of Wheelwright, Kentucky

I have subscribed to receive notifications of any new Edutoipa articles and this one caught my eye. The title of the article is Community Connect: The Bluegrass State Blends Technology and Service Learning by Suzie Boss.

Students have taken pictures from Wheelwright, Kentucky (a former coal-mining town that has basically become a ghost town) and perserved the history by restoring these photos. They've even published a coffee table book and DVD.

This is one example of how students in the state of Kentucky are honing their 21st century skills. The statewide Student Technology Leadership Program (STLP) mixes community service with technology in hopes of empowering students with technology. The article goes on to highlight additional student-led projects as well as giving information on how the projects have inspired teachers and community memebers alike.

This article is definiely worth a read...

Bringing School to the Information Age Article

It's been a while since I posted. It may look as if I have posted 2 times in one day; however, the post right before this, Web 2.0 tools, has been written for a while, I just forgot to post it! If you did not read that, please visit that post to gain a basic understanding of what Web 2.0 tools are.

The place where I work gets several educational magazine subscriptions, one of those being Edutopia. The subscription being passed around to me and my co-workers is the July/August 2007 issue (yes...sometimes we are a little behind, but we still read the information!). There were several articles I felt worth of sharing, but the one I really want to high-light is the editor's note.

Please read and add your comments!

Editor's Note: Bringing School to the Information Age
written by James Daly, Editor-in-Chief of Edutopia
July/August 2007 Edutopia Magazine Article

I feel like this article hit the nail on the head! The last 2 paragraphs really express the need that students have for schools and educators to "jump on board" and began to use technology in their classroom. I know there are several teachers out there who still do not see this as a need, but whether or not they see it, the need does exhist. I also realize there are many teachers who see it as a need, but do not know where to begin and are even scared of the technology. The good news - people, like myself, exhist to help you in those frightening endeavors! Never be afraid to ask for help. We welcome that and are excited to encourage and assist you along the way.

For links to additional articles I thought were outstanding from this issue, please visit my wiki and click on the Instructional Technology Articles link in the sidebar.