Characteristics of 21st Century Teachers: How Can I Be an Effective Teacher?

When I first started teaching, I thought I would have every weekend and summer off. That was a far cry from the truth. However, the efforts that I have put in since my first year as a teacher have paid off each and every year. I often explain to my students, “you get out of it, what you put in to it,” and it is my opinion that in order to be successful, you have to do what needs to be done regardless of your circumstances. I guess I learned this during my first year in the Philadelphia School District when I was expected to teach three classes of video production with twenty-eight to thirty-five students per class, and only one camera.

It was at this time when I also realized that the students wanted someone who cared about them and was honest with them. Unlike when we were in school, students today don’t walk into a classroom with the same amount of respect for their teacher as we did. I think this is in part because we did not have the access to information that they have today. Our only resources were our teachers or the library. Now with search engines, online resources, and social media, students can gain knowledge from a multitude of sources. They consume more information in one day than we did in a week (not scientifically proven).

In my opinion, this has changed the way we need to approach our classes. Students want to know that their teachers are informed and don’t have some kind of hidden agenda or are holding them back from succeeding. I often think about what we are doing when we do not provide the students every means to be successful by allowing them to use the tools they know best. For instance, when we tell students to power down, we are telling them that their world isn’t important or suggesting that we are going to do something better. When in reality, we do this because we just don’t know what to do ourselves or how to “control it.” Think about the first time you heard “BYOD.”

That is why we need to expend the energy to learn as much as we can about what they know. If not on your own time, work with your students. If you are not using Twitter or Facebook, ask your students to create a multimedia presentation on the benefits of, the uses of, and the implications it could have on education. You’ll be amazed at what they can teach you. Additionally, you could be there to connect the dots or provide a means to make the connections between your curriculum and their world. If you think about it, that is really what teaching is supposed to be.

Imagine after making these connections, you explain to them all of the reading, writing and technology state standards they met by producing the presentation. You see, students want to know that you are providing information that is relevant to their future, and not just tied to some state standard or standardized test. Although we know the standards are important for us to teach, the students really don’t care to hear them over and over and over again. For that reason, I think it is better to just teach the standards using a “real world” project and after the students complete the task, unveil the state standards that were met (in preparation for their standardized tests).

There really isn’t a prescribed set of rules to follow to be an effective teacher. In fact, what works in one classroom might not work in another. But that is what I believe makes my job fun! I ask myself each year, “How can I get this group to be as successful, if not more successful than the last group?” Try it and see what you can do to make a difference.