"Today's average college grad...[consume] over 11 hours of media every day." This is the reality of all of our students. They spend hours and hours on their phones, social media (snap chat, twitter, etc) and playing video games. Yet when they come into our classrooms they are expected to sit quietly, answer the teacher's questions with responses that the teacher deems important and most important be unplugged from all these networks they have created online. How is this fair? How is this equitable? How can we as teachers in the 21st century change that environment? First we can start by giving the students opportunities to discover the curriculum online. We can achieve this through online project based learning that can take students on journeys, rather than simply memorizing facts. Students can collaborate with peers from around the world to gain new insights and knowledge from places (and people) beyond the classroom walls. We can start with teaching students the skills necessary to to be successful in life, such as communication, collaboration, how to extract meaningful information from the internet, how to form opinions and back their claims up with evidence. We as teachers can create an environment where student's culture and diversity are a key component to the curriculum, therefore bridging the gap between the school and the community and making the content both meaningful and relevant. Designing and rethinking how we deliver curriculum to our students should be the focus of teaching in the 21st century. A key component to changing this curriculum is implementing technology. I personally use technology daily, either when I'm planning lessons, updating my blog, checking emails, the list goes on and on. I cannot imagine my life without using the internet. I plan to provide that same opportunity for my students to learn using technology. As a teacher in the 21st century creating an environment where my students are engaged while learning the science content is my top priority.
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AuthorHi! This is blog is for my EDSS 530 class, secondary education for the 21st century. Tara Archives
April 2015
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