A Teacher in the 21stCentury

What is education? Does it need to be changeable according to the new conditions? Are educators

always ready to make progress in their desire to be up-to-date? All these questions are asked by

educators all over the world. But one of the latest questions is the following: is the new generation of

the 21st century ready to be taught by the educators taught in the 20th century? And the answer is: it is

not! Not, because their brains are different, they were born “digital”. They are “digital natives” and we

are “digital Immigrants”, according to Marc Prensky

1

and we are far away from each other. However,

some things stay changeless through dozens of years, while others need to be altered. What about

teaching in the 21st century? I’m sure there is something changeless as well as altered.

I’d like to start with a basic thing which is classic, such as being a good professional. Being a good

professional is not that difficult nowadays. Thanks to the 21

st

century, massive open online courses are

available and are one of the great advantages. So, the only thing is eagerness. A highly-qualified teacher

wins: he loves his job, his students, his subject; students benefit as well: it’s vital for students to have a

teacher who is a collaborator, a communicator, a creator, a leader, a facilitator, and a critical thinker.

Dozens of years before the process of teaching looked like this: students were sitting at the desks and

just listening to the teacher, and the teacher was the only source of information, besides a textbook.

Now time has passed and, fortunately, another source of information has become available. The Internet

is the greatest invention of the 20

th

century and it has made the society to live differently, to play

differently, to communicate differently as well as to study. The new methods are essential for 21st

century education and preparing students for their future. They can be as following: project learning,

problem-based learning, and design-based learning, cooperative and small-group learning methods

2

.

Are all teachers ready for the new roles and new methods? I’m afraid not. I interviewed a great number

of teachers of different ages and different experiences. Some of them are not happy about the fact that

new technologies have rushed to the teaching process, they claim that they do harm to students’ health

as well as their social lives, as children spend much time sitting in front of their computers in their homes

and the same thing happens in classrooms! But this is inevitable! The 21

st

century dictates its rules.

Marc Prensky in his book “Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants”, claims that we, teachers, speak different

languages with our students (Part I, 2) and we should change ourselves, our methods and approaches.

Students are not able to be taught as it used to be dozens of years ago as they have spent their entire

lives surrounded by and using different toys and tools of the digital era. Computer games, the Internet,

cell phones and instant messaging are integral parts of their lives. So, “… it is now clear that as a result of

this ubiquitous environment and the sheer volume of their interaction with it, today’s students think

and process information fundamentally differently from their predecessors” (Part I, 1). That means that

we must use materials that have been adapted to the language of “digital natives”, such as educational

computer games, for example.

Observing my colleagues’ lessons I’m very happy to see how modern teachers (not only young ones, by

the way) use various Internet resources to make their teaching process interesting and engaging. They

create their websites, blogs; some of them use Skype and communicate with their international partners

1



Prensky, Marc. Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants (From On the Horizon (MCB University Press, Vol. 9 No. 5,

October 2001).

2



Trilling, Bernie and Fadel, Charles. 21st Century Skills: Learning for Life in Our Times. SanFrancisco: Jossey-Bass A

WileyImprint, 2009.

discussing different themes during the lessons, giving opportunities to their students to practice foreign

languages, others communicate with their students online. Modern students would rather do some

online homework then write it in their copybooks. This is our reality and this is their life.

Dozens of years before, students went to school to get knowledge, at present they go to school to gain

skills which are necessary for their future life. The aims of education have changed as well as the

requirements to the life, to teachers, to students and to parents. Being a teacher in the 21

st

century is a

challenge, but it is challenges that make our life interesting, fascinating and, yes, challenging. It is a real

challenge to accomplish Coursera with distinction, to change your teaching style, to reduce your

“accent” and to change your role as a teacher. But it is worth doing.

References

Prensky, Marc. Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants (From On the Horizon (MCB University Press, Vol. 9 No.

5, October 2001).

Prensky, Marc. Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants, Part II: Do They Really Think Differently? Published in

On the Horizon (NCB University Press, Vol. 9 No. 6, December 2001).

Trilling, Bernie and Fadel, Charles. 21st Century Skills: Learning for Life in Our Times. San Francisco:

Jossey-Bass A Wiley Imprint, 2009.