A 21st Century Teachers: A new, and unique profession.

New generations of educators are roaming the halls of a school near you. From a distance they seem like the typical teacher preparing for a new school year: hanging up posters, rearranging desks, sharpening pencils, and copying papers. But upon further observation, an onlooker might notice these young teachers are armed with something new. Something that will transform how subjects are taught and how students will learn. What is it you ask? Technology.

Technology has totally redefined the world we live, making things easier, brighter, and more connected. And the classroom may be one of the most exciting arenas for the evolution of technology. Before I continue I should describe what a 21^st century teacher is. In my opinion, a 21^st century teacher is a young educator who realizes that it’s time for education to change. Now, I’m not saying that the rule book needs to be thrown out and we need to redo every tiny thing our teachers did, but I do believe it requires us to take a long, hard look at educational tactics and ask ourselves “Is this effective?” and “How can I improve on this?”  As 21^st century teachers we get to personally partake in this new advent in education and learn to discover how we can use technology to facilitate our teaching.  We find ourselves in schools now equipped with Smartboards, Airliners, the internet, projectors, labs, etc. and we realize that we literally have the whole world of education at our hands instead of as much as a publisher can fit in a book. As a future history teacher, I will be able to take my history students to Bangladesh through vivid pictures, study culture by means of music by Amazonian tribes, and learn politics at the hands of video debates. We can now travel the world, with the world of knowledge at our feet, and never have to leave our classroom.

However, as 21^st Century teachers we also have two big responsibilities. First, we must promise to become proficient in using our new found technological devices. I think we can all agree there are few things more disheartening then watching an educator struggle with technology for twenty minutes before giving up and resorting to handwritten notes. We owe it to our students and ourselves that we know how to use our technology and keep up on the current developments and new applications they can perform. And secondly, we must respect technology and know its boundaries. There is no debating that fact technology is entertaining but we must make sure we use technology for our educational purposes and not to be pulled into a vacuum of silly online time wasters. We are educators and our utmost responsibility is to educate.

So there you have it. Goodbye chalkboards! Arrivederci overhead projectors! The 21^st Century teachers have arrived and we’re gearing to go with our Smartboards and our weblogs. We’re here to teach and we’re not going about it the traditional way. The world is just within our grasp. And you know what? We’re reaching out for it.