21st Century Teaching

The 21st century as brought about a number of changes. Education continues to grow and adapt to new ways of thinking. It continues to incorporate new technology and bring new tools that make it easier to learn. One of the best web 2.0 tools that have gained traction over the years is blogging. There is literally a blog for everything on the internet. The amount of teaching blogs that have been developed over the years has skyrocketed. Teachers are eager to share ideas, thoughts, and lesson plans with the world. There are a number of teacher blogs I follow for laughs and ideas. It is very calming to know that there is someone out there who may think like me and share the same ideologies with me. It is easy to think we are alone in how we feel and think but blogging offers a connection to the average reader that makes everything make sense. Blogging requires interaction that engages the reader through questions, thoughts, and other incorporated links (Richardson, 2010). The conversation then blossoms into an amazing dialogue between working professionals in the field.
Through blogging and reading blogs, we are able t have conversations we may not have thought we were ever going to and allow ourselves the opportunity to think beyond our scope of learning. Through blogging we are also able to share resources and techniques all over the world. Blogging allows for the use of collaborative tools to expand students' authentic, real-world learning experiences by engaging virtually with experts, teams and students, locally and globally (ITSE, 2016). While blogging may not be ideal for the elementary setting, for middle and high school blogging can be used by both students and teachers to have meaningful conversation and for students to synthesize their learning while making real-world connections. According to Ray (2006), blogs in education or EduBlogs can be used to communicate, as instructional resources, as collaborative tools, and showcases for student projects. It can be used to post class announcements for parents or providing schedule reminders for students. Especially now with the pandemic, blogging in the elementary school setting can be very beneficial. Since we are not allowed to have parents enter the building, we can out on art showcases or writing showcases via blogs for parents and the public to see. Students can use blogs to pose important questions to their community and open a conversation on important topics. Students use collaborative technologies to work with others, including peers, experts, or community members, to examine issues and problems from multiple viewpoints (ITSE, 2008). It is important to become innovative during this unprecedented time and come up with different ways to make education continue to thrive and showcase all of the hard work that our students put in daily.
Each day we continue to prepare our students for the changes that the advancement of technology in the 21st century. Blogging takes the classroom discussion beyond the walls of the classroom and out into the big and ever-changing world. Moving forward in the world of education, microblogging through Twitter and vlogging through Facebook, TikTok, and Instagram helps to keep the conversation moving forward. Education is flexible enough to withstand anything thrown its way and come out bigger and better.
Until Next Time.... TeachingMama27

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