VISION STATEMENT
For students to reach their potential in the twenty first century, they need the guidance of powerful educators; for educators to maintain effective, twenty first century, teaching practices, they need direction and guidance from top-notch leaders. To accomplish this requires a change in culture by leaders, teachers, and students. First, school leaders must not only remain curious about and up-to-date on technological advancements, but they must share their momentum with others. Second, educators must embrace change through a commitment to expand their own modalities for learning. Finally, students must be taught more about thinking and less about tools, as they become creators, not only consumers, of content.
“Leaders don’t make plans; they don’t solve problems; they don’t even organize people. What leaders do is prepare organizations for change and help them cope as they struggle through it” (Kotter, 2001). In order to prepare schools for change, technology directors and principals must remain up-to-date on and curious about technological advancements. By staying informed, these leaders will add value to their schools by providing their faculty the resources, professional development, and energy to remain innovative, while simultaneously supporting their faculty with the discomfort that comes with change. By approaching what is new and next with an open mind, leaders will be role models for how to positively embrace change.
Twenty first century educators must remain in continuous dialogue about how they are preparing children for a future with jobs that currently do not exist, using technologies that have yet to be created. Learning a finite set of skills for one trade is no longer what someone needs for success in the workplace. Jobs are much more abstract, and to prepare students for their futures, educators must teach them to think critically, collaborate, apply what they’ve learned in new situations, and share their findings. For this reason, students need more than intermittent exposure to technology; students must be surrounded by opportunities for authentic application of technology in their day-to-day lives. To support this movement, educators must embrace change by committing to the expansion of their own modalities for learning. For example, educators could join Twitter or Pinterest, create a vertical team, attend a noteworthy conference, or join an educator’s book club. By expanding how and what they learn, educators will develop personal learning networks and increase their repertoire of teaching strategies. “If something educationally meaningful is going to happen with technology, it happens in the teacher’s heart first, and this is a function of seeing various possibilities, choosing those to pursue, and having time to explore with colleagues,” (Nagel, 2011).
As educators prepare their students for their futures, it is important to teach them how to become active participants and creators, not just consumers, of content. In order to do this, the role of a teacher needs to make a shift. Instead of hand-delivering content, teachers need to rethink the teacher’s role. There needs to be a shift from an environment where teachers are administrators of content to one where teachers are partners and facilitators. Teachers should provide students with the tools necessary to collaboratively think beyond what has been to what could be. Teachers need to pose questions and give their students time to collaborate, research, make mistakes, and learn. In learning to become makers and creators, students will see technology as an intertwined literacy, not a separate entity.
The only thing that is certain about the future is that change is inevitable. To equip students with the tools necessary to be successful in the twenty first century, all stakeholders must work together to embrace a culture of change. Leaders must understand and support technological advancements, teachers must commit to their own professional growth as learners, and students must be taught how to think and create, not simply consume, information.
References
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Culatta, R. (2013, January 10). Reimagining Learning: Richard Culatta at TEDxBeaconStreet.
Retrieved March 30, 2016, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z0uAuonMXrg
Gee, J. P. (2013). The Anti-Education Era: Creating Smarter Students through Digital
Learning. New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan.
Kotter, J. P. (2001). What leaders really do. Harvard Business Review, 79(11), 85-98.
Nagel, D. (2011). Bringing teachers onboard with tech. Web log post accessed at
http://thejournal.com/articles/2011/01/27/bringing-teachers-onboard-with-tech.aspx.