Moving into the 21st Century

She's the queen of cool

And she's the lady who waits

Since her mind left school

It never hesitates

She won't waste time

On elementary talk

'Cause she's a twentieth century fox

-The Doors

The world is ever changing and teachers need to change with it. I have been very fortunate in my teaching life to have had the opportunity to learn from great teachers. During the first two years of my teaching career, I taught and implemented the Writing Workshop program by Lucy Calkins. Columbia University sent experts on this method of teaching writing to my school to help train the staff. This was fantastic for a new teacher, as I was then, to really start off on the right foot (or write foot!) with writing instruction. Although I don’t strictly follow this program any more I still bring elements of it into my classroom.

In my classroom, the students are given the option to share their writing with others. After a student has shared I try to highlight something in the writing that he or she did well. When I  say , “I liked the way you used dialogue in your piece. It helps me to understand the characters more.” It works better than a 2 hour lesson on dialogue. Nearly all children will try to make a character talk  in their next writing piece. I believe that with my guidance the students learn so much more from each other than if I just stood at the front of the class and threw information at them. Do I need to just say what I mean or hit them over the head with information or just simply tell the class something sometimes? Of course, and there is nothing wrong with students listening to their teacher. However, students are changing, therefore teaching needs to change with them.

Like it or not, the average student plays video games a lot. Maybe even the majority of time that they are not in class. Interactions with other kids their own age are now taking a backseat. Teachers of young children are now in the position of teaching not only academics but also social skills. Verbal learning has this advantage. Children can be taught sentence starters such as, “I respectfully disagree because…” or “That’s a good point, but I would like to add…”. I also make sure there are plenty of high fives, compliments and patting (gently!) each other on the back to help promote a spirit of cooperation and belonging in my class.

Sometime even my arch nemesis, (video games!) can help children to think through a puzzle or a problem.  Inquiry based learning is based on just that concept. Instead of the teacher being the one giving knowledge to students, the teacher is the one who asks questions and the students have to think through and discuss solutions or possibilities. Sometimes finding an answer means a student needs to do research and share what they’ve learned with the class. Sometimes it means trying something to see if it works, then discussing the results with your classmates and trying something else or learning about what someone else tried. Sometimes keeping students engaged and thinking at a higher level just means asking them to dig deeper or assimilate information in a new way. For some students, it is perfectly appropriate to have them read a story and draw a picture of their favorite part. Other students can get more challenge by designing an advertisement for the book or perhaps a character or action in the book. Another thing a student could do is rank books, information, etc. in order of importance and explain why he or she chose that ranking.

These are 21st century skills. Today’s children will not be living in the world that today’s adults grew up in. All information is at their fingertips. The days of memorization are over, let the deeper level thinking begin!