Characteristics, Skills and Teaching Strategies of a 21st Century Teacher Education

What does it mean to be a 21^st century teacher? You may have heard the term “21^st century” being tossed around in the media referring to what’s cutting edge in education. Beyond being up-to-date with the latest in technology in the classroom, what does a 21st century teacher actually look like? Here we will take a look at a few of the key characteristics of a 21^st century educator and some applicable teaching strategies. 

        The forces which are shaping twenty-first century economies and societies also pose significant and sustained challenges for school education. Technological advances and changing fundamentally the nature of both work and leisure and contributing to societal shifts already affected by migration and demographic change. Far from being immune to such forces, education lies at the heart of any response to this challenging context. twenty-first century teachers must help to equip future generations to thrive in an environment of fast, continuous and fundamental change and must themselves capitalize on the potentiality far-reaching implications for teaching and learning.- Graham Donaldson

    What are the Characteristics of a 21st Century Teacher?

    The 21st century educators are able to adapt the curriculum and the requirements to teach the curriculum in imaginative ways, software and hardware designed for a business model into tools utilizable by a variety of age groups and abilities to a dynamic teaching experience and the teaching style to be inclusive of different modes of learning. The characteristics of 21st century teacher are the following:

• the adaptor
• the communicator
• the learner
• the visionary
• the leader
• the model
• the collaborator
• the risk taker
• the innovator

What are the 21st Century Skills?

1. Learning Skills

• Critical Thinking
• Creative Thinking
• Collaborating
• Communicating

2. Literacy Skills

• Information Literacy
• Media Literacy
• Technology Literacy

3. Life Skills

• Flexibility
• Initiative
• Social Skills
• Productivity
• Leadership

What are the Essential Teaching Strategies of a 21st Century Teacher ?

      Today's educators, need to use teaching strategies to equip students with the characteristics and skills that will help them live in this ever-changing technological world. Here are five most essential teaching strategies in a 21st century teachers should have in today's classroom.

1. The 21st century teacher should be able to teach to all learners. Being a 21st century educator means the ability to be able to teach and reach all learners. That means the ability to differentiate learning so that all students are able to learn using their own unique style or by their ability or readiness level. In today's classrooms, educators have learned that students learn best when they are taught to their own style and ability. An, effective 21st century educator must have the ability to teach and reach to each characteristics and skills of every learner in the classroom.
2. The 21st century teacher should be able to implement technology. To have the ability to know how to use appropriately and implement the gadget within the classroom is one of the essential skills of a 21st century teacher. They will have the means of how efficiently implement and incorporate technology into the classroom in a way that will be productive for all students.
3. The 21st century teacher should be able to foster student relationships. In digital world, where students can count the number of friends that they have by the likes they get on Facebook and Instagram, it is very important today more than ever for educators to be able to foster healthy relationships among their students. An effective teacher will have the ability to facilitate interpersonal relationships within the classroom so that students will have a sense of community and be able to communicate with their peers on a higher level than by social media.
4. The 21st century teacher should be able to advance her thinking, a 21st century teacher is able to anticipate the future and plan for it. They have the ability to prepare students for the current trends and technology.
5. The 21st century teacher should be able to embrace change. The ability to embrace change is an essential characteristic of a 21st century teacher. With the swift changes in technology and the way the students learn, educators must be able to embrace the changes not only in technology but also in education.  Technology changes everyday, as do new teaching strategies, teaching techniques and the way we are able to learn and communicate with others.

      The 21st century learning environment is part of providing our students with the best possible education is preparing them for the workforce and the world they will enter after they leave school.  In most cases, this means we have to give them the ability to learn both independently and collaboratively.  It means turning our focus away from the traditional model we may be more comfortable with to more real-world contexts, like project-based learning – both face-to-face and online.  And it means teaching them to utilize the technology that exists today so that they will be able to comfortably incorporate it in their careers.  For most of us, this means we’re going to be learning right alongside our students (or in some cases, allowing out students to teach us!).  It might not be in our comfort zone, but once we recognize that our students are going to need these skills in order to be successful it becomes obvious that we really can’t afford to not prepare them properly.

      The learning and teaching in 21st century education is more effective. The 21st century educators ensure teaching is enhanced through the informed use of technology developing learners' ICT capability. The 21st century teachers use ICT to :

• deliver greater flexibility, choice of lessons and teaching techniques
• communicate information and concepts clearly with high quality lessons and resources
• make learning exciting and engaging for all learners
• provide adaptive solutions for learners with special needs
• create a learning environment where learners feel safe and secure
• extend learning and work in partnership with parents, families and the community.

      The 21st century educators use technology for all administrative processes, enabling them to save time. They use technology to help them with:

• planning teaching and learning across a broad and balance curriculum
• reusing,adapting and sharing documents
• storing and analyzing pupil data for formative and summative assessment
• identifying and addressing their professional development, including their own ICT training needs
• responding to emerging technologies and practice.

     The 21st century teachers take account of the learning outside school. They make use of this in planning for learning inside the classroom. In assessing and reporting, the 21st century teachers have modern assessment and reporting systems in place. These help them to understand, identify, and meet the needs of the learner. They use technology regularly and consistently to:

• support their professional judgement
• track learner's progress
• monitor learners to ensure their use of technology is safe, legal and responsible
• communicate with parents/caregivers and sharing information through online reporting.

     How Does Teacher Learn and Develop Professionally?

      Evidence suggests that externally-imposed educational change has only limited impact. John Hattie's meta-analysis of research evidence (Hattie, 2009) suggests that up to eighty-five percent of teachers are resistant to changing their existing practice. An individual teacher's past and current experience is very powerful in determining their day-to-day practice in the classroom. Hattie concludes that the moves to use accountability, government pressure and other forms of compulsion are rarely effective. Yet Wikman's research (Wikman, 2010) suggests that much of teacher knowledge is tacit, intuitive, situation bound and the result of chance. Strategies for teacher learning may be integral to sustain improvement in education but much of what a teacher does is rooted in tradition, experience and context and is not commonly articulated by teachers themselves in ways which promote informed debate. The 21st century professional development highlights ways teachers can seize opportunities for integrating 21st century skills, tools and teaching strategies into their classroom practice and help them identify what activities they can replace/emphasize. It balances direct instruction with project-oriented teaching methods. It illustrates how  deeper understanding of subject matter can actually enhance problem-solving, critical thinking, and other 21st century skills. It enables 21st century professional learning communities for teachers that model the kinds of classroom learning that best promotes 21st century skills for students. It cultivates teachers' ability to identify students' particular learning styles, intelligences, strenghts and weaknesses. It helps teachers to develop their abilities to use various strategies (such as formative assessments) to reach diverse students and create environments that support differentiated teaching and learning. It supports the continuous evaluation of students' 21st century skills development. It encourages knowledge sharing among communities of practitioners, using face-to-face, virtual and blended communications. It also uses a viable and sustainable model of professional development.

     "If we teach today's students as we taught yesterday's, we rob them of tomorrow."- John Dewey

References:

http://www.cep.edu.rs/public/teaching_profession_for_the_21st_century.pdf

http://www.teachhub.com/5-undeniable-reasons-why-educators-should-embrace-technology-classroom

https://www.slideshare.net/royalchildacademylapulapu/the-21st-century-teacher-and-learner

https://erte.dge.mec.pt/sites/default/files/Recursos/Estudos/21st_century_teacher.pdf

http://www.teachhub.com/5-essential-21st-century-teaching-strategies

http://www.p21.org/our-work/p21-framework

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=075aWDdZUlM&t=432s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c8jf2TN_-8Q&t=3s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O35n_tvOK74
https://k12.thoughtfullearning.com/FAQ/what-are-21st-century-skills
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DMN6kl_BavY&feature=youtu.be