It
is a sad fact that teachers often get in a rut and tend to only use a few
instructional strategies in their classroom. Using a variety of strategies can help to meet
the varying needs of the students in the 21st century
classroom. It offers multiple ways to
learn and gives the students multiple ways
to look at and think about presented material. Students that struggled with
classical teaching methods can now reengage and flourish as material is
presented and taught in new and interesting ways.
Technology
can make it easier to use more of these strategies. It is especially useful in assisting in group
learning formats, enabling a wider range of participants to collaborate and
discuss new ideas. Productivity software
has not only allowed us to do things more quickly, it has allowed us to do
things that we had not even imagined only 10 years ago. Who would have thought you would be able to
video chat in real time on the other side of the world?
After
researching the various strategies, my mind is awhirl with new ideas that I
want to implement or at least try in my classroom. To keep from becoming irrelevant in the 21st
century classroom, it is important for teachers to continually grow and innovate
and guard against growing stale. Now I
feel like there are so many ideas, and so little time to fit them in.
