Teaching Students in the 21^st Century

John Dewey once said, "If we teach today as we taught yesterday, then we rob our children of tomorrow." 

            Every year it seems less and less of my students are able to sit for any extended period of time and maintain their focus. I truly feel this is a result of all the technology available today. From the time my students wake up to the time they go to sleep, technology is a large part of their lives. They wake up and listen to music or watch cartoons, on a computer, not a radio or television. They use computers at school to practice their math facts, complete reading quizzes, and write personal narratives. In addition, they use classroom clickers (responders) to take tests. Long gone are flash cards, hand written papers, and paper and pencil quizzes and tests. Then my students go home and play video games, listen to their iPods/MP3s, or chat/post in an online community. Now, do not get me wrong, I am not saying this is a bad thing. My students are living in the Digital Age and they are embracing it 110%!

            What is bad is the way my Digital Age students are accustomed to learning. They learn best when information is presented in a multitude of ways, in short snippets, and with a high level of stimulation and interaction. Therefore, teaching students in the 21^st century requires using a variety of instructional strategies. Additionally, some of the best-suited strategies involve implementing technology.  

            Utilizing a variety of teaching strategies adds considerable value to my lessons and my students’ learning. It allows me to differentiate and therefore (hopefully) address all of the different types of learning styles in my classroom. Incorporating technology in my teaching allows me to grasp my students’ attention, sustain it, and it offers a multitude of ways to do this. For example, I can (and do) use: PowerPoint presentations, games, and videos to introduce, review, or practice concepts. In addition, I teach my students computer basics such as keyboarding, navigating our classroom website, and exploring educational websites. This, in turn, allows me to integrate even more technology teaching strategies, some of which were mentioned in my opening paragraph. Additionally, my students self-select educational games to play, master using an interactive whiteboard, and learn to use a wireless laptop computing system.

            Often, there will be about ¼ of my class working on math facts on the computers, another ¼ working on reading comprehension quizzes on the computers, ¼ peer tutoring or working in a small group, and the remaining ¼ working independently on an assignment and waiting for their turn on the computers. There is a lot of peer communication and collaboration needed for this to occur, both of which are important 21^st century skills. Furthermore, this requires my job to be that of a facilitator. I am there to help guide my students as they learn, with the goal of preparing them to become successful learners, workers, and 21^st century citizens.