Joe DeVenuto

EDCI 270

The primary skills that every teacher in the 21st century must know to
succeed are: problem solving, creativity, analytic thinking, collaboration,
communication, ethics/accountability. Problem solving is where the students
need the ability to solve complex problems in real time. Creativity is where
the students need to be able to think in both digital and non-digital
environments to develop unique and useful solution. Analytic thinking is
where students need the ability to think analytically, which includes facility
with comparing, evaluating, synthesizing, and applying without instruction or
supervision. Collaboration is where students must possess the ability to
collaborate seamlessly in both physical and virtual spaces, with real and
virtual partners globally. Communication is where students must be able to
communicate, not just with text or speech, but in multiple multimedia
formats. They must be able to communicate visually, through video and
imagery, in the absence of text, as actively as they do with text or speech.
Finally, ethics/accountability is where fiscal responsibility, personal
accountability, environmental awareness, empathy, tolerance and many
more come together. Without these skills, a teacher simply cannot be
effective in the 21st century.
If a teacher is not digitally literate in todays world, it can be very
difficult for them to reach out and have an impact on their students. Some
problems a non-digitally literate teacher may run into are: not only not
understanding the technology but how it can be used in the classroom, not
being able to convey information in a proper manner, and not realizing the
full potential of the students.
As I develop my skills for teaching in the 21st century, the ISTE teacher
standards have been a great way for me to stay on track and keep up with
everything I need to know for the future. On the ISTE website there is a
quote teachers use their knowledge of subject matter, teaching and
learning, and technology to facilitate experiences that advance student
learning, creativity, and innovation in both face-to-face and virtual
environments. To me this is what teaching is all about, to educate the
students to the absolute best of ones ability and to promote, support, and
model creative thinking and inventiveness.
I believe that the reasoning behind the amount of emphasis put on
access and use of technology is because it is truly that important in todays
world. If you think about what goes on in your everyday life, almost all
aspects of it are influenced in one way or another by technology. This might
not be a particularly good thing; relying too heavily on technology, but it is
the world we live in and technology certainly isnt going to slow down
anytime soon.