Thursday, May 28, 2009

The Great Teachers of the 21st Century

The blocking woes continue:
"How can I be a great teacher in the 21st century when the majority of the great tools are blocked?"

asks Reader Knaus.

And his great crime?
I'm actually pretty proud of myself. I single handedly got Vimeo blocked in my district. I uploaded 4 short video files to Vimeo during my lunch hour for a grad class I teach. The next day, the site was blocked.

What were the videos? Porn? No.

E-portfolio 'help videos' created using Screen Flow. Block someone who is creating helps for students and future teachers. Nice!

Knaus, you do realize that we are but the foundation blocks of 21st century education? Heck, we aren't even the foundation blocks. We're like the mix they use to make the foundation blocks.

Folks were still riding horses in 1909. Baltimore to D.C. by train was a five hour trip (I exaggerate... but, really now!).

We are in the early stages.

And so, there are going to be innumerable difficulties. After all, it's not just tools and sites we're trying to get unblocked. It's attitudes and preconceptions that we're trying to unblock.

Fight on. Because in doing so, you not only help form that foundation, you also inspire your students.

And they are the ones who will be the great teachers of the 21st century.

2 comments:

  1. I am not sure it is a fight. It is more of a realization that school is irrelevant as it is currently organized. It should not be fought but ignored. Something new will emerge as we create and learn outside of the obsolete form. History is a viral spread that connot be stopped. We are part of history.

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  2. Norman Constantine is on the right track. School IS irrelevant as currently organized. we are begining to organize ourselves via twitter, blogging and everything else to operate without schools, without blocking software, and eventually without school administrators or classrooms or district school boards.

    Scary but real.

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