21st Century Schools: After the chalk dust settles

Imagine classrooms where students are active, creative, and enthusiastic about learning. Expeditious growth in the basic skills of reading, writing, speaking, listening, researching, scientific exploration, math, and multimedia is demonstrated. Possible?

To say that education has transformed as it has moved into the 21st century is certainly an understatement. When I began teaching in the 1970’s, academic “excellence” was defined in 20th century terms. As a 20th century high school English teacher, I was expected to be fully prepared to share my expertise in Language Arts. I was expected to be on point in academic matters as well as with innovative teaching techniques. I was expected to raise the bar to challenge my students while at the same time sharing my passion for learning. Not bad in terms of 20th century thinking.

As 21st century educators, we now know that the 20th century problem of education lay in its orientation. Teachers like me were encouraged to become master teachers. While some students benefited, others unfortunately did not. After all, there was only so much time from bell to bell, only so many handouts that we could generate, only so many lectures we could deliver, only so much chalk dust we could stir up. As the definitive source of knowledge, teachers remained quite limited in what they could do to improve the academic development of their students. With the century’s turn, the chalk dust settled, and schools were faced with the need to reinvent themselves.

For the past several years, secondary and post-secondary educators have made preparations for this metamorphosis in education. Technology, learning differences, student-centered lesson plans, interdisciplinary learning experiences, and green issues have taken center stage as professional growth initiatives. We teachers were hearing of the need to embrace 21st century learning long before we knew why, but we bought in to idea and never looked back. What does 21st century learning look like? What changes in education are necessary to prepare students for 21st century challenges that lay ahead in post-secondary schools and careers?

The “you tube generation” desperately needs 21st century teachers to inspire them and to show them how global connectivity, collaboration, and creativity will lead to lifelong learning, limited only by their imaginations and levels of participation. Teachers, however, understand they are no longer the sole source of this inspiration. The 21st century learner is fast becoming aware of a global audience which will provide over-the-top stimulation for students. I like educator Wesley Fryer’s self-description as a “catalyst for creative engagement and collaborative learning.” He defines 21st century learning as “moving at the speed of creativity.”  Teachers must teach effective digital expression, together with the critical need for Internet etiquette and the application of Christian values in the global community.

As an educator in the 21st century, I get it. I understand that rather than realizing the self-centered, limited goal of becoming a master teacher, I must embrace the goal of becoming a master learner. Beside cheering students on and orchestrating their learning experiences, students need me to help them locate, manage, and utilize information in productive ways. Their successful production in post-secondary schools and in 21st century careers will depend on the preparation they getting today. Helping students learn information that will soon be outdated is a waste of my valuable time and theirs. In the 20th century, teachers, by default, limited potentials by defining student success in terms of how much information they could remember. As a 21st century educator, I understand that success comes only with teaching students how to manage the explosion of global information. Bells will no longer define appropriate learning times, in the same way that the traditional four walls will no longer restrict learning for students.

Educational expectations are in a revolutionary mode. Through professional development and the provision of 21st century hard and software, we are well on our way to reinvention and, in fact, are on the cutting edge. Jessica Jolls, President and CEO of the Center for Media Literary, suggests that educators today are faced with “an ever-changing landscape, so we need to focus on the ‘constants’ that make an individual an effective user of technologies.”  Teachers are learning how to integrate technology in order to teach the 21st century learning strategies which involve global connection, information management, collaboration, and creativity.  As a teacher drawn into the intensity of this process, I am fully aware of my own limitations as the sole source of knowledge for students. “A good teacher can show students that there isn’t just one route from A to B, but multiple routes with design and usability tradeoffs that are critically important,” suggests Chris Stephenson, Executive Director of the Computer Science Teachers Association. I get it and my colleagues get it as well. Schools must not only understand the need for reinvention but they must expect it.