The 21st Century Teacher

My guess is that, except for the technology ingredient (unless we consider the printing press, the pencil, the pen, film projectors, tape recorders, chalk), there were 21^st Century teachers in all of the centuries in the past. As I read Josh Stumpenhorst’s What is a 21^st Century Teacher?, in the SmartBlog on Education, I thought back to the projects and ideas that were evolving in schools in the 1960s and 1970s. Project-based learning and connected teachers are certainly nothing new. It seems to me that the phrase “21^st Century Teachers” is just another name for good teachers who make use of their creativity and of the tools they have to give the best to their students.  They teach in a way that students learn how to learn, and they know how to encourage students to explore the excitement of learning on their own, with others and with them. I agree with Stumpenhorst that teachers today need to be “connected educators”, “masters of technology”, “reflective practitioners”, and advocates for good teaching and the teaching profession. I also agree that we aren’t there yet in many of our classrooms, technology-wise and teaching-wise. Master teachers will, as they have always done, lead the way for others.