Broadening our Horizons: Bringing teachers and classrooms into the 21st Centruy

Teacher's can often become static in their approach to teaching, often relying on what they know and never challenging themselves.  However, how can we expect students to extend their learning and challenge the limits of their knowledge if the person modelling the learning is afraid to do so. The eSchool News has an interesting article with helpful hints on giving that reluctant teacher a little push towards technological literacy.  

The Role of the Teacher Pertaining to Learning and Understanding 21st Century Tools?

As mentioned in a previous post, we believe  that a teacher in the 21st century is a facilitator in the classroom. The teacher’s role means then that she/he helps the students to gain understanding and learning through giving them the proper resources to achieve a goal. In regards to the use of 21st Century tools the teachers role is to make sure that they fully understand the tool. If they do not fully understand the tool they will not be able to teach the students the appropriate ways to use it, which can be detrimental to the student’s success. Once, the teacher understands the tool themselves they are able to teach the child the appropriate way to use it.  Furthermore, not only are they able to properly demonstrate how to use it, they can encourage the students to explore the tool’s functions and challenge what both the teacher and student understand about it.  For example, if a teacher asks their students to create a Twitter account without the teacher first doing it themselves and modelling how to do this in a safe and appropriate manner, it may result in the child not understanding what are appropriate things to tweet and exposing themselves to a potentially unsafe situation. By having the teacher first, familiarize themselves with the functions and nuances of Twitter and then modelling proper use through the process of creating it the teacher can make sure that they put the appropriate settings out so the child is not harmed online.

We believe that if the teacher does not feel confident using the tool then they need to think twice about using it in the classroom. It is the teacher's job to meet the Standard of Practice relating to “ongoing professional learning.” In regards to technology and ongoing professional learning the teacher may need to participate in workshops, research online or collaborate with other teachers to gain a better insight about the use of 21st Century tools in the classroom. As teachers we need to stay up to date with the new pedagogy to fully reach our students and technology is the newest way to reach them. We all need to take the steps to find the ways to integrate technology in our classroom.   In relation to ourselves we are taking this course to work with other educators to collaborate and learn from them, creative ways to engage our students.

Authored by Jon & Emily

Bringing Social Media and the Web 2.0 into the classroom

Social Media is a continually growing means of informational exchange and worldwide social interaction.  It is something that younger generations are continually being exposed to and interacting with, thus it is imperative that teachers also become just as familiar with different forms of Social Media so that they become comfortable enough to include the use of these mediums into their daily teaching routine.  I believe that Social Media should be used to create a fun, and engaging classroom that is responsive to the needs and interest of the student’s.  For example, I have read, on the internet, of classrooms creating Facebook pages for characters in a book that they are studying.  I think this is a great way for students to demonstrate their understanding of the complexities of the characters in a book and to be able to do it in a way to exposes them to the web 2.0.  Social Media is also an excellent tool to keep students connected to the global community around them.  Sites like Twitter allow people to stay informed on a variety of issues from all around the world.  A teacher could use Twitter to follow famous people (The Prime Minister for example), or news outlets and, as class, review some their tweets and have a classroom discussion about the ways in which a recent global, or local event may impact them. I think this a great way to develop a sense of agency in students at young age as well as demonstrating how the world is becoming more interconnected.

Here is a link to a website with more great ideas on how to incorporate Social Media into the daily learning environment: http://www.onlineuniversities.com/blog/2010/05/100-inspiring-ways-to-use-social-media-in-the-classroom/

Authored by: Jon

The Professional Responsibilities of a 21st Century Teacher

What is your responsibility as both an educator and learner to uphold these standards as a learner and educator?

We think the responsibility as an educator and learner is to continue to strive to meet these standards. Although it is a continuous and on-going thing, We think that it is our responsibility to uphold them because they set the foundation for a successful teacher and learning environment  .

Are these standards relevant to teaching and learning in 21st Century?

Yes these standards are relevant to to 21st Century teaching because regardless of what approach you take in your teaching you still need to insure that you are meeting the standards laid out in this document.  Furthermore, we feel that the standard of practice relating to Professional Practice is a perfect example of the relevancy of these standards.  This standard is focused on ensuring that educators are using the most effective means of teaching to ensure the success of their students.  We believe that the evidence in support of the efficacy of incorporating the Web 2.0 into your teaching is overwhelming, thus a teacher that is not incorporating at least some aspects of the Web 2.0 into their classroom is in fact not meeting this standard.  Furthermore, teachers who are unwilling to learn effective ways to incorporate technology into their learning also fail to meet the 4th Standard of Practice in our opinion.  

Do these standards encourage innovation, risk taking and on-going learning?

Emily and myself both believe that the Standards of Practice do encourage on-going learning.  The 4th Standard alone is specially dedicated to ensuring that teachers are always pushing themselves to learn new things and evolve as a teacher.  We also believe that the worst thing a teacher can do is to become static with their teaching style.  When a teacher finds themselves in a comfortable routine, of say teaching the same grade year after year, we have noticed that they revert back to old lessons and continue to teach in the same manner as they always have.  We believe that this is done because people find comfort in what is familiar to them and they feel safe teaching the same way they always have.  However, we believe that to truly grow and improve your skills as an educator you need to stay current with new pedagogy and continue to challenge yourself to try new things.  It may be more work in terms of preparation and the lessons may not always work out, but it is through this risk taking that innovation arises.  When I (Jon) was in my second teaching block my supervisor commented that although my lessons covered the necessary material they were, as she described, “safe.”  I never really understood this and always thought that as long as I covered the curriculum and the class learned the material then I had accomplished my job. However, after teaching grade 1/2 last year I realize that teaching is about more than just making sure students know the curriculum. As teachers, we always want our students to move out from their comfort zones and try new things to challenge themselves.  it is important that we not only teach them the curriculum but to also instill in them a sense of confidence in themselves.  However, students take cues from their teachers and if a teacher is not comfortable enough to try new things and take risks with lessons then why should we expect our students to do any different.  For me (Emily) I believe that when I had the opportunity to learn I need to take it. During my first teaching block in a ELKP classroom I witnessed how a teacher and ECE were taking this new opportunity to make the learning experience for their kindergarteners the best it could be. These two teachers were new to the program but they took every opportunity to collaborate with other teachers and participate in workshops to fully understand how they were suppose to teach their students. To this day I still talk to them and they discuss how they are changing how they are teaching the students and the positive impact it is having for both parties. They demonstrate the standard of practice “of ongoing professional learning” and how a classroom can be so rich because of it. One issue that arises for me is how do we as educators willing to make change get teachers caught in their ways to understand the importance of innovation? How do we as teachers help those who are new to technology and hesitant to use it without making them feel like we are criticizing them?

While we think that these standards do encourage innovation, risk taking and on going learning, we also think there is a pressure from principals and school board administrators that deters teachers from branching out and taking chances.  Teachers are always scrutinized by the public and administrators to ensure that the curriculum is always being covered and we believe that this has caused teachers, especially young educators trying to get a contract to revert to “safe” lessons so they can, show parents and administrators that they have taught their students what the Province expects them too.

Authored by Jon & Emily

Teaching Safe Use of Social Media in Your Classroom

In an article written by the daily mail it indicates that more than half of children begin using social media by the age of 10. That means the students in grade 4 have started or are beginning to use Facebook, Twitter, Instagram etc. At this age they may not know the do’s and don’ts of the online world. Later in this article it stated that only 32% of parents felt ‘very confident’ with assisting their children with staying safe online. Knowing that more than 50% of parents either don’t discuss the safety of the online world or don’t feel comfortable with it is pretty astounding.

To make social media safer for children teachers need to become familiar with the sites themselves so they can teach the students appropriate mannerisms of social media. But we also need to get the parents involved and provide opportunity to discuss how they can help their children and show them what they are looking for when their children are using social media.

As a teacher teaching older students, your class is likely well aware of the dangers of Social Media. However, I think it is important to have a discussion with them in regards to what their personal boundaries are when it comes to sharing personal information on Social Media.  For example you could ask if anyone would send someone, they didn’t know a picture of themselves, or if they have ever tweeted or written a Facebook post detailing their plans for an evening, or have they ever allowed someone they didn’t know to follow them on Twitter or Facebook.  These questions would serve as a good baseline judgment in determining what your student’s personal boundaries might be.  From here you can tailor the rest of the discussion to talk about some of the dangers that might be involved in answering yes to any of those questions.  Furthermore, you could have students share personal stories about a potentially dangerous encounter they have had using these sites and how they handled them.  Also, within this discussion, it is important for the teacher to make the students aware that they are leaving a digital footprint when they post, tweet and share. This means the students need to realize that the digital footprint is something that is going to stick with them. They need to realize the ramifications of sharing something that may be inappropriate later in life.

        Another useful strategy might be to show them real life examples of what can happen when Social Media is used recklessly.  There are countless news stories of teens who shared the wrong kind of personal information on the internet and how this was then used by someone to harm them.  Although, these are tragic stories it is important that we learn from them and ensure that we are protecting ourselves from a similar situation.    

Authored by Jon  & Emily

A Paradigm Shift in Teaching: Using Social Media to Educate the 21st Century

The general migration of our culture toward greater interconnectedness via the Web 2.0 has created a paradigm shift of sorts in the realm of education.  Although the universal goals of education remain the same- to develop students capable of critical thinking and life-long learners with a strong social conscious- the means in which teachers have available to them to teach these goals has changed immensely.  We think it is the responsibility of all teachers to embrace this change in the approach to education and become familiar enough, with the current technology that is available to them, to help guide their instructional.  It is well established that students are more engaged and have greater authentic learning when technology is incorporated into the learning process.  We believe that teachers who fail to realize this, and remain static with traditional teaching approaches are doing their students a great disservice and not providing them with the best possible education.

        In turn, the role of the student has also undergone a significant change.  Students today have access to a global community that was not as easily accessible a decade ago.  We believe it is important that they embrace Social Media and the Web 2.0 in a positive way and understand that, when used properly, is the greatest educational tool in the world.  Furthermore, we believe that students must continue to take a more active role in their learning and accept a greater level of independence because of the new technology that is available to them.  Teachers should be encouraging students to explore the Web 2.0 and encouraging them to use these tools to do their own research on topics that are meaningful to them.

Teachers as well have now become facilitators in the classroom. Instead of lecturing and then testing for students understanding the teacher and student collaborate, communicate and adapt the learning to meet every learners needs. As teachers we now want to challenge our students and make them ask questions and to find answers. Through the use of technology we can have students research, collaborate, discover and learn online in ways that were never imagined in the past. Students are able to connect themselves to events, history and cultures across the world through the internet, making learning more focused to their interests. Through technology it seems the learning is limitless for the teacher and the student. There are no boundaries of what can be learned in the 21st century. Through, proper facilitating the teacher can allow the students mind to light up in knowledge.

Authored by Jon & Emily

An Introduction to the Blogoshpere!

Hello and welcome to the blog of Jon Hiller and Emily Zwier, Emily and I are a teaching couple from Welland, Ontario who have both been teaching for 2 years. We have both taught at the same school for both of those years, it is a school on a First Nation Reserve located in central Manitoba. Emily is familiar with the world of blogging, as she used to keep one to update our friends and family back home of our experiences teaching in such an isolated community. I however, have never written, or really even read a blog before this, but I am excited to use this blog to document and show what I have learned in the AQ course I am currently taking: "Integration of Information and Computer Technology in Instruction."

 Regards, Emily and Jon