Rajneesh kaur

ROLE OF 21^st CENTUARY TEACHER

Need to change: As we move further into the new millennium, it becomes clear that the 21st Century classroom needs are very different from the 20th Century classroom needs.  The science of teaching requires content knowledge, organization, management skills, and detailed planning. The art of teaching is not about possessing an outgoing personality, but making connections to students, parents, as well as connecting the curriculum to the real world in a relevant manner. In the 21st Century classroom, teachers are facilitators of student learning and creators of productive classroom environments in which students can develop the skills they will need in the workplace. The focus of the 21st Century classroom is on students experiencing the environment they will enter as 21st Century workers. The collaborative project-based curriculum used in this classroom develops the higher order thinking skills, effective communication skills, and knowledge of technology that students will need in the 21st Century workplace. The interdisciplinary nature of the 21st Century classroom sets it apart from the 20th Century classroom. Lectures on a single subject at a time were the norm in the past and today collaboration is the thread for all students learning. Thus the 21st Century teacher creates and maintains intentional relationships with her students, parents, and colleagues for the sake of tomorrow’s success.

                  

Above article is interesting and informative.

  Rajneesh kaur

Asstt.Prof.CRSCE NOIDA

ROLE of 21st CENTURY TEACHERS

In India traditional teaching was done in Gurukuls, Maths Vihars and Maqtabas. Guru was highly esteemed. Gurus also accepted teaching as a service and they performed teaching work with hard work, honesty and full devotion. Teaching work was considered as social work. But presently, situations are completely changed.

 As we move further into the new millennium, it becomes clear that the 21st Century classroom needs are very different from the 20th Century classroom needs. In the 21st Century classroom, teachers are facilitators of student learning and creators of productive classroom environments in which students can develop the skills they will need in the workplace. The focus of the 21st Century classroom is on students experiencing the environment they will enter as 21st Century workers. The collaborative project-based curriculum used in this classroom develops the higher order thinking skills, effective communication skills, and knowledge of technology that students will need in the 21st Century workplace. The interdisciplinary nature of the 21st Century classroom sets it apart from the 20th Century classroom. Lectures on a single subject at a time were the norm in the past and today collaboration is the thread for all students learning.

20th Century teaching strategies are no longer effective. Teachers must embrace new teaching strategies that are radically different from those employed in the 20th Century classroom. The curriculum must become more relevant to what students will experience in the 21st Century workplace.

The 21st Century classroom is student centered, not teacher centered. Teachers no longer function as lecturers but as facilitators of learning. The students are learning by doing, and the teacher acts as a coach, helping students as they work on projects. Thus, for fulfilling present day demands new role of the teacher in the 21st Century classroom requires changes in teachers’ knowledge and classroom behaviors. The teacher must know how to:

• act as a classroom facilitator. They use appropriate resources and opportunities to create a learning environment that allows each child to construct his or her own knowledge. The teacher is in tune with her students and knows how to pace lessons and provide meaningful work that actively engages students in their learning.
• establish a safe, supportive, and positive learning environment for all students. This requires planning on the part of the teacher to avoid safety risks, to create room arrangements that support learning, and to provide accessibility to students with special needs. The teacher is skilled in managing multiple learning experiences to create a positive and productive learning environment for all the students in the classroom. Classroom procedures and policies are an important part of creating a positive learning environment. The teacher evaluates and implements effective classroom management techniques in a consistent manner. She uses routines and procedures that maximize instructional time. Students know what is expected of them, and the teacher knows how to effectively handle disruptions so there is no adverse impact on students’ instructional time.
• plan for the long-term and short-term.
• foster cooperation among students within the classroom. The teacher models and promotes democratic values and processes that are essential in the real world.
• encourage students’ curiosity and intrinsic motivation to learn. The teacher helps students become independent, creative, and critical thinkers by providing experiences that develop his/her students’ independent, critical and creative thinking and problem solving skills. The teacher provides enough time for students to complete tasks, and is clear about her expectations. Students are actively involved in their own learning within a climate that respects their unique developmental needs and fosters positive expectations and mutual respect.
• make students feel valued. The teacher emphasizes cooperative group effort rather than individual competitive effort through collaborative projects and a team spirit.
• communicate effectively with students, parents, colleagues, and other stakeholders. The teacher uses written, oral, and technological communication to establish a positive learning experience and to involve other stakeholders in student learning.
• use language to foster self-expression, identity development, and learning in her students.
• listen thoughtfully and responsively.
• foster cultural awareness and cultural sensitivity in her students. The teacher encourages students to learn about other cultures and instills in her students a respect for others and their differences

In the end we can say that characteristics of the 21st Century classroom will be very different from those of in the classrooms of the past because the focus is on producing students who are highly productive, effective communicators, inventive thinkers, and masters of technology.

Role of 21st century teachers

“I am a teacher! What I do and say are being absorbed by young minds who will echo these images across the ages. My lessons will be immortal, affecting people yet unborn, people I will never see or know. The future of the world is in my classroom today, a future with the potential for good or bad. The pliable minds of tomorrow's leaders will be molded either artistically or grotesquely by what I do.

Several future presidents are learning from me today; so are the great writers of the next decades, and so are all the so-called ordinary people who will make the decisions in a democracy. I must never forget these same young people could be the thieves or murderers of the future.

Only a teacher? Thank God I have a calling to the greatest profession of all! I must be vigilant every day lest I lose one fragile opportunity to improve tomorrow.” - Ivan Welton Fitzwater

Schools in the 21^st century are laced with a curriculum for life aimed at engaging students in addressing real-world problems, issues important to humanity, and questions that matter. In the 21st Century classroom, teachers need to be facilitators of student learning and creators of productive classroom environments.

The focus of the 21st Century classroom is on students experiencing the environment and challenges they will face when they enter the global world market as workers. The present curriculum used in this classroom aims to develop their higher order thinking skills, effective communication skills, and knowledge of technology that students will need in their workplace. This in turn sets the challenge for the teachers to embrace new teaching strategies.

It is said that teaching as a profession makes other profession. Teachers play a unique role of preparing students to become worthy members of all professions of the world. They therefore shoulder a responsibility and opportunity to mould future generations.

Need of the hour-Change in Teacher’s attitude

Just as the classroom is changing, so must the teacher adapt their roles and responsibilities? Teachers are no longer teaching in isolation. They now co-teach, team teach, and collaborate with other department members. The revised Blooms Taxonomy wants teachers to be creators of knowledge and thinking professionals (earlier the continuum of thinking skill would start from knowledge and ends at evaluation; but as per the changing times, the revised version starts from remembering and ends at creating)

With globalization we see an emerging ‘global society’ driven by technology and communication developments. This ‘global society’ is shaping the students as ‘global citizens’ and intelligent persons with multi-skills and knowledge to apply to the competitive and information-based society. Teachers today find themselves in an education system in which they are no longer the sole ‘fountain of information’ but the facilitators and pointers towards information. In view of these changing facts, we need teachers who can survive moreover excel in the present times.

In the present times, we need teachers who:

• Create strategic readers.
• Create strategic writers.
• Create independent thinkers.
• Create problem solvers.
• Give students the necessary knowledge and skills to enable them to become independent learners.

• Induce  Critical Thinking and Problem Solving attitude

Needed traits of the 21st Century Teacher

1. Driven to Learn - teachers must be driven to learn in order to teach effectively in the 21st Century.  It is no longer acceptable to teach only from a textbook, to rely on the same worksheets and methods year after year without at least questioning them and researching why they are the best resource available.  There is simply too much new information, too many new strategies, and new learning available to us to ignore the implications it may have for students in our classes.
2. A Media Creation Expert - Whether posted online or simply used in the classroom, our materials must be highly engaging and effective.  PowerPoint and Word are becoming antiquated as newer and more powerful presentation and editing suites become available to teachers.  It is our responsibility to compete (where necessary) with the quality of video games and media construction in order to hook students into great learning.  As media conscious teachers, we can win student attention by working with them, not against them, for their learning
3.  An Empathetic Mentor – “One looks back with appreciation to the brilliant teachers, but with gratitude to those who touched our human feelings.”Gone are the days when teachers dole out assignments and send students on their merry way.  A modern educator realizes the plethora of factors impacting students in our current world, and strives to tailor learning where possible toward individualized needs and interests.  This student-centered focus also creates learning opportunities for the teacher to learn with students, developing their teaching and collaborative skills.
4. Reflective teachers - with the ability to comprehend the applied nature of education, and utilize the knowledge gained.
5. Encourage students’ curiosity and intrinsic motivation to learn- The teacher helps students become independent, creative, and critical thinkers by providing experiences that develop his/her students’ independent, critical and creative thinking and problem solving skills. Students are actively involved in their own learning within a climate that respects their unique developmental needs and fosters positive expectations and mutual respect.
6. Effective communication skills- We need teachers who has agility and adaptability, effective oral and written communication. We need teachers who can use language to foster self-expression, identity development, and learning in her students.

7. Recognize and respect the individual differences- In schools, a teacher has to perform multifarious tasks for all round development of the children. Besides the normal day to day activities, it is their responsibility to handle children with special needs effectively in classroom as well as outside the classroom. These children may act and behave differently. They exhibit some special characteristics, which may be different from their normal counterparts. Therefore, the successful inclusion of children with special needs into the regular school setting is largely dependent on the attitudes of teachers and their recognition of the child’s right to participation.

Conclusion:

“I've come to the frightening conclusion that I am the decisive element in the classroom. It's my daily mood that makes the weather. As a teacher, I possess a tremendous power to make a child's life miserable or joyous. I can be a tool of torture or an instrument of inspiration. I can humiliate or humour, hurt or heal. In all situations, it is my response that decides whether a crisis will be escalated or de-escalated and a child humanized or de-humanized.”
- Dr. Haim Ginott

To face the challenge of present times, our teachers need to keep abreast of what is happening in their field. As lifelong learners, they need to be active participants in their own learning and incorporate the traits needed to compete in present globalized world.