The new millennium is being ushered in by a dramatic technological revolution. We now live in an increasingly diverse, globalized, and complex, media-saturated society. Today’s students are referred to as “digital natives”, and today’s educators as “digital immigrants”. Teachers are working with students whose entire lives have been immersed in the 21st century media culture. Today’s students are digital learners – they literally take in the world via the filter of computing devices: the cellular phones, handheld gaming devices, PDAs, and laptops they take everywhere, plus the computers, TVs, and game consoles at home. As a result, the teaching-learning environment nowadays becomes more complicated brought by these technological changes. Teachers of this millennium should be able to adapt with these changes.
In order to cope upwith these dramatic changes, teachers must be equipped with attributes, knowledge and skills critical to 21st century education so that they may be able to integrate them in their teaching.
The 21st century teachers must be:
Multi- literate- Multi-literate teachers know how to use various technologies in teaching.
Multi- specialist-Multi- specialist teachers are not only knowledgeable in the subject area they are teaching but in other areas as well so that they can help the learner build up what they gain in classrooms and outside the school and make sense of what was learned.
Multiskilled- For teachers to cope with the demand for widening learning opportunities, they must be skillful not just in teaching but also in facilitating, organizing groups and activities.
Self-directed- Teachers who are responsible in various aspects of school life must
know how to initiate action and bring to fruition the learning goals of the students
and the educational goals of the country.
Lifelong learner-For 21st century teachers, learning never ends. Teachers must be constantly updated on the latest information related to their subject and the trends in pedagogy. Moreover, they should also be sharing and applying what they are learning with their students and colleagues.
Flexible- 21st century education is student-centered. Thus, teachers must be able to adapt to various learning styles and needs of the learners. Teachers must also be flexible enough to ensure that learning takes place all the time using alternative modes.
Creative problem solver-.Problems will be there inside the classroom and within the school. Teachers must
be there to offer innovative ideas and creative solutions to problems.
Critical thinker-Teachers need to be critical thinkers so that they could stir students to think about what they have learned, ask questions, reason out, probe, and establish their own knowledge and belief.
Has passion for excellent teaching- Having the passion to teach effectively ensures that students learn under the care and guidance of a teacher. Ordinary teachersmerely talk and give instruction to students, but excellent teachers have a passion that motivates students to learn and succeed in life., and most of all with
High Emotional Quotient (EQ)-21st century teachers must notonly have the head but also the heart to teach. Teaching is an emotionally taxing and influential job as it involves interaction with human beings. This demands that negative emotions be held in check to avoid intimidating students, thus stunting learning. On the other hand, teaching also demands for some level of emotional connections to create an environment conducive to learning.
By: Ma. Lanie M. Gamit | Teacher I | Mariveles National High School – Poblacion | Mariveles, Bataan
