What does it mean to be an educator in the 21st century?

For me, to be an educator in the 21st century requires many strengths and a lot of creativity. Before this semester, I had thought that teaching in the 21st century would require so much more use of technology, as in just the internet. However, I have discovered that this is not the case. In my own education, I had used computers for typing projects, finding information on encyclopedias, and using the internet as a tool to find sources for projects. I have learned that this is not the only way to use technology in today’s classroom. There are so many projects that students can create that are very technologically advanced. Programs such as Frames, Imovie, and Garageband are very easy to use, especially for younger students and students can use as much creativity as they want. In classrooms now, it seems as though Powerpoint presentations are no longer the “hip” thing to do, but create movies from Frames or create a podcast on Garageband. These programs are easy enough to use that children of any age can use them and fit any unit that is currently being taught in the classroom.

I had also thought that by being an educator in the 21st century, it is not acceptable to use strategies from years past. For me, that vision has changed. From my Children’s Literature class, I have developed and discovered many strategies that I can use, which are from years past that have worked very well. Discussions, writing journals, and literature circles were strategies that my former teachers had used in my classrooms. Those strategies seemed to work well for them, and they achieved much participation from the class. I had not realized how my former teachers used strategies to teach students, but now it makes sense. I have learned other strategies, including using Smartboards as technology in my classroom, to help my students interact in class and learn in a hands on environment.

As I become an educator in the 21st century, I have learned that change is good, but not all change needs to occur. I have become very fond of the idea of using technology in my everyday lessons, especially since my students will have the opportunity to have a hands-on lesson. I have also learned that not all strategies that teachers used in the past are bad. I do like to have my students actively participate, and some of the previous strategies that teachers have used incorporate that. As I become a teacher, I hope to continue to incorporate technology that is advancing, along with the older strategies to get my students to be active and have fun while they’re learning.

Pre Assessment

Class,
Please take this assessment. When you are done, please press "Submit" and come back to your seat.

Hello!

Hi Kayleigh! My name is Leigh. I really like your name! I live in Maine. I have one brother and I like to play ice hockey. I like to ride horses too. I am studying to be a teacher. What do you like to do?

Top Ten of ACTEM Conference

After going to the ACTEM conference, I came up with a top ten list of the most important things I have learned or the coolest things that I had learned:
1. Smartboards are awesome! I have discovered that they are so incredibly helpful and they keep kids engaged.
2. There are free math programs all over the web that help reinforce basic math concepts. There are visualizations of these concepts that students can access at home or in the classroom that can help them practice the concepts.
3. I got the idea from "Jim's Best of the Web 2008" of using magneticpoetry.com to help beginning students separate the words with different letters or as the students get older, separate the words into sections of their meanings.
4. Senteo's absolutely are amazing. These tools make testing available in a different manner that students are interested in using.
5. Most technological tools, such as the senteo and the smartboard cost a pretty penny. They are pretty expensive, even though they are so helpful for students.
6. Most middle school and high school students have free online courses they can take where they can recieve credit for. Although it is mostly used for remedial and gifted childern, homeschool children also can use them.
7. Scratch is the coolest program ever. It is made for smaller children to work on programming without the complexity. It is very basic, but it also contains many complex sections where children can advance without having to purchase another program.
8. I had not realized prior to the conference that books were available online. Leveled reading is available for free on the internet, which is also interactive with the children. It looks like something that is enjoyable and a great learning tool.
9. Jing, which is a free program, gives kids the opportunity to record whawt they're doing while they're doing things on their computer. It gives kids the opportunity to show their teacher and explain what they did before, during, and after their assignment to explain what they were doing instead of just working in their head.
10. The smartboard is incredibly useful, getting kids to pay attention incorporating video clips, online activities, and kids using the smartboard to get interested and incorporated into the topics they're studying. Plus, a Wii remote control can also be doubled as a remote control for the smartboard. There are so many possibilities with the smartboard to get students involved.

Unit Ideas

My main focus would like to be the Civil Rights Unit.

1. How did segregation effect everyone?
a. Topic: Have students research and discover how segregation was felt by those who were of color and those who weren't.
b. Grade Level: 6
c. Task: Write a journal entry from both perspectives (one of a white and one of a black) and discover what were some common and not common feelings about segregation.
d. Roles:
Map Person: Someone to tell where in the country segregation was affected the most, but also where it was affected in general.
Connections person: Someone to make connections to how things were run then in comparison to today.
Violence Analysis: Someone to analyze any violence and explain why there might be violence occuring?

2. Why were people outraged?
a. Topic: Why were people of both colors outraged at segregation?
b. Grade Level: 6
c. Task: For students to discover why people were outraged at segregation and why others weren't. Students will put together a play to describe both areas.
d. Roles:
Historian: The person to have background on the city or town that students are focusing on.
Violence Analyzer: Someone to analyze any violence and explain why there might be violence occuring?
Connector: Someone to connect today's life in that town and how things were then. Has anything changed?

3. Do you think that the Civil Rights Leaders were correct in their methods of protest?
a. Topic: For students to think about the protest methods and to think about their means of protesting.
b. Grade Level: 8
c. Task: For students to study protest methods and to think about how some people responded to the protests. Students will come up with a conclusion for each civil rights leader.
d. Roles:
History of Protest Expert: Someone who is familiar with the methods of protests, including what famous protesters are famous for what.
Connector: Someone to connect the methods of protest from then to today.
People Person: The student who is familiar with the information of how people felt about segregation and can relate most to all types of people.

4. Has the Civil Rights Movement benefited or not benefited today?
a. Topic: Students will explore some negative and positive benefits coming from the Civil Rights era.
b. Grade Level: 8
c. Task: For students to present (however they would like to) on how they feel the Civil Rights era has been beneficial to themselves or not and explain why.
d. Roles:
Historian: Student who knows about prior to the Civil Rights movement, including laws.
Law Maker: The student who would constitute/resign any laws they feel is not or is beneficial and would explain why.
People Person: The student standing for the everyday person explaining why certain things have affected them and how and why.

Assistive Technology in the Classroom

I had specifically thought that assistive tools used in the classroom were for someone with a disability. Growing up, I had never used any assisting tools in my education and only people with disabilities used these tools. It had never dawned on me growing up that people with disabilities needed these tools in order to do well in class, until I read Section 508. I had not realized how much work goes into preparing for a child with disabilities in a classroom, especially reading what goes into Section 508 and the tools that a child might need. However, I feel as though that assistive technology can benefit an entire class, not just those who have a disability.

Growing up, I had never really seen anyone in my classes with any assistive technology. I hadn’t witnessed it up until sixth grade, where I had a girl in my class with hearing problems. The teacher wore a microphone and it connected to a computer speaker, which projected it to her so she could listen better to lectures. It was really awesome because I would always sit next to her and I could hear the lessons better, especially if I sat further back in the classroom. However, it’s not just microphones and speakers that could help out a classroom. I had always seen kids with a special type of keyboard, called the Alpha Smart, where they could type onto it and it would save it. It seemed like something I always wanted to use, but the option was never offered to me since I did not have a disability.

Now that I will have my own classroom, I feel as though tools such as the Alpha Smart will benefit not just the disabled, but it will help my other students succeed. It would be ideal for me that my class would type on those, instead of writing in a reading journal. Although writing has its benefits, a lot of kids don’t know how to type. It also gets kids familiar with using computers at an early age. Of course, assistive technology doesn’t have to be computers. I would also love to give my kids the option to use other tools, such as musical instruments or large foam blocks for class projects or to help them learn not just in a lecture style. I want all my students to do well, even if they have a disability. I feel as though familiarizing all my students with different tools, including ones that disabled children might use, will help them learn new methods of understanding.

What does it mean to be an educator in the 21st century?

Teaching has changed throughout the years. It has changed from the teacher teaching all ages and levels at once, to teaching one specific age group, and now to working with the children in the age group to get them engaged in learning. Today, we as educators are learning to not teach lecture-style. Many professionals and students have learned that there are many different ways of teaching the same information. However, as technology advances and more people are learning how to work with the technology to produce new ways to provide information to students of all ages.

I had not realized how much technology is used in the classroom now, especially for younger children. There is quite a debate about if technology is a positive influence or a negative influence in classrooms, but I feel that it is a pretty positive tool. Students of all ages are being able to research information that wouldn’t be offered to them in their school library. It’s offering them many more tools that they can learn from and develop throughout their years in school. In “Media Assassins,” Salina Gray was able to take inner city kids and introduce them to new ways of finding information on the internet and other media clips. The kids were excited about what they were learning, which is the most important thing to me as an educator. Salina was able to help the kids learn more about topics that were interesting to them, but also how to comprehend the information better and increase their reading capabilities.

I found that the stories about different uses of technology in the classroom to get students to want to learn more were very inspirational. I have found that most of the articles were in response to today’s occurrences. Students, even as young as 4th grade, were able to understand what is going on and wanted to change it. The example of the students looking for information on presidents and slaves was an eye opener to the fact that students aren’t seeing everything in a textbook. The students, after a lot of research using C.D. encyclopedias and other methods tried to have that lack of information changed because they didn’t feel it was right. The same goes with Salina Gray’s classroom, where they contacted their governor about lack of health care and how it wasn’t fair. It inspires me to teach knowing that children want to change the world, with the help of technology.

I know that most of the examples I have mentioned are directed at younger children and not the college age, but that is because by college, students are able to move themselves around a lot of technology, including the internet and C.D.’s. Younger students might not understand all of it, while students my age have grown up with the internet and such. The younger students, I feel, know a lot about how to move around the internet, but they need guidance about what they need to find and where to find it. College students know where and when is appropriate to research and find specific information.