Effective teaching in the 21st Century depends on the willingness of teachers to be active life-long learners.
With the continual advances in technology and information transmission, it is becoming increasingly impossible to deny the role of teachers as facilitators of information. No longer are we the supreme fountain of knowledge in our classrooms (what with instant Google access in the hand of each mobile-phone bearing individual in our class)…. But neither are we an obsolete commodity, easily replaced with laptops and Wikipedia. Instead, we are reminded that the best teachers are also the best learners. And so we, as learners, must facilitate the learning of others.
Socrates is known to have said, "I cannot teach anybody anything, I can only make them think," while Seneca once pointed out that, ‘Men [and women!] learn while they teach."
Clearly, this teacher-as-learner business is not a new thing. But I would argue that now, more than ever, it is especially relevant.
(I’m going to post up some thoughts on this below. While the field of inquiry here could be infinite, I intend to focus on just a few.)
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Adaptation and Flexibility in the Classroom
With current progress towards a far more inclusive learning environment, teachers need to know how to differentiate their teaching for different learning needs and levels.
Adaptive education ensures that all students can access learning and respond effectively. It requires teachers to be flexible by designing appropriate learning experiences for a range of individuals. Teachers assess the strengths and weaknesses of individuals in the class and keep these in mind whilst planning lessons, resources and procedures. This allows students to take various paths to achieve a common goal.
In terms of special education:
Gow argues that educators should move towards the all inclusive collaborative school model of education. That is, that all teachers should, in a sense, be special educators for children with special needs (Gow, 1992). The idea is that all students with disabilities are accommodated for in the ordinary classroom, allowing distinctions between students who receive ‘special help’ and those who don’t to be broken down.
There are, of course, good arguments for and against such suggestions. For example, Frederickson and Furnham point out that the barriers between students of different ability may increase in situations where the limitations of certain students are made obvious against the backdrop of students with a higher capacity for certain types of learning (Frederickson and Furnham 1998).
At the end of the day, it is vital for teachers to keep up to date with these issues that will inevitably affect their classroom. Moreover, I would suggest that it is crucial for us, as teachers, to be constantly aware of the learning needs of our students, and not only that, but for us to be constantly learning and applying strategies to enable all students to achieve.
Gow 1992 and Frederickson and Furnham 1998 quoted by McInerney, D. M. and McInerney, V. (2006) Education Psychology; Constructing Learning (4th ed). Australia
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Integrating ICTs
Technology is rapidly becoming a basic teaching device, with tools such as social networking, blogs, YouTube, Smartboard and a plethora of exciting educational websites (to name a few).
In their reflection on professional development regarding the integration of technology, Lawless and Pellegrino draw a clear link between professional development and students’ achievement. They argue that the professional development of teachers is critical to ensure that teachers keep up to date with the most effective instructional use of new technologies. (Lawless and Pellegrino 2007).
It is in the best interests of teachers and students that we – the educators- learn how to use these effectively in the classroom. The fact that so much of our everyday learning proceeds from technology (think T.V., the internet) points to the necessity of using this technology wisely and effectively.
Not only will the integration of ICT into our teaching equip students with the skills for functioning in a technology-based world, it should enable them to become discerning in their use of technology, particularly with reference to the reliability of sources accessible on the internet and so forth.
Lawless, K.A and Pellegrino, J.W. (2007). Professional Development in Integrating Technology into Teaching and Learning: Knowns, Unknowns and Ways to Pursue Better Questions and Answers. American Educational Research Association, 77(4), 575-614.
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Reflective Practice is Best Practice
As a student-teacher, I am well aware of the importance of being a reflective practitioner. Little progress can be made when one doesn’t take the time to think back on a lesson: what worked well, what didn’t work, what could be improved on?
In his investigation into the nature and experience of beginning teachers, Arends concludes that the data gathered in his study suggested that the most competent teachers are the most avid learners (Arends, 1983).
Reflective practice largely draws on a constructivist view of education, a view which holds that learning is an active process, that it is adaptive, that it is affected by social interaction, that it is not passively absorbed but constructed by the learner and society as a whole, that experience and prior understanding play a role in learning, and that learning is essentially about making sense of the world (Yilmaz, 2008). Whilst the constructivist focus is on the student, these principles also apply to the educator, since the teacher must never stop being the learner.
As we continue to progress in our teaching experience, we – the teachers of the 21st century- should be always aware of the construction of knowledge that is taking place in our classrooms, and consider what affect we are having on that construction. Do we learn in isolation, or is our classroom actively part of the wider world?
Some teachers keep a journal of their experiences and reflections, others annotate their unit of study/ lesson plan for future planning, while others think back immediately after their lesson and apply their appraisal to future practice.
To be a reflective practitioner is to be constantly learning as you go. It allows for a balance between our personal response to a lesson and critical distance. It also gives us the opportunity to engage with a range of perspectives, and challenge our assumptions.
Arends, R. I. (1983). Begining Teachers as Learners. The Journal of Educational Research, 79(4), 235-242.
Yilmaz, K. (2008). Constructivism: It’s Theoretical Underpinnings, Variations, and Implications for Classroom Instruction. Educational Horizons, 86(3), 161-171.
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Education versus Psychology?
Though it may be overlooked by a lot of busy teachers, the role of psychology in education shouldn’t be ignored. Psychology and research have a lot to offer education, and vice versa.
In looking at the relationship between education and psychology, Mayer complains that in a time where educational psychology is making exciting progress, offering much to the fields of psychology and education, it is being written off by members in both fields. (Mayer, 2001).
As teachers, we could surely benefit from engaging in the development of an educationally relevant science. Keeping up to speed with the areas of contribution in teaching and learning from educational psychology will improve practice. Recent contributions include the development of new conceptions of intellectual ability, new means of assessing learning outcomes, and new approaches to the design of ICT based instruction (Mayer, 2001).
Mayer, R.E. (2001). What Good is Educational Psychology? The Case of Cognition and Instruction. Educational Psychologist, 36(2), 83-88.
