21st Century Teachers

21st century teachers are expected to know more about technology than ever before. Since
the world seems to come up with a new invention every three seconds, it is vital for a teacher to
know about technology and be digitally literate. Although this concept of being digitally literate
is not commonly known, it is important for every teacher to understand. Also, there are 21st
century skills that need to be known before understanding digital literacy.
First, there are four different parts of digital literacy, and it is important to recognize and
understand each part. The first part of digital literacy is information literacy that allows one to
find and access information and interpret appropriately. Tool literacy is exploring and
understanding how to use certain tools that specifically help with organization and teaching in a
classroom. This also includes knowing the appropriate tools to use to make a task most effective.
Instructional design literacy is knowing how to use an ID process to analyze learners and bring
together information and tools to have effective learning. The final category of being digitally
literate is social literacy. This is the ability to share and communicate different information. It is
important to be socially literate because it will allow one to safely share information which is an
essential skill for a teacher in the 21st century.
Also, there are six skills that are needed to be digitally literate are problem solving,
creativity, analytical thinking, collaboration, communication, ethics and accountability. These are
all generally seen in the classroom but not typically seen using technology. An example of
applying these skills with technology is using a collaboration exercise where a student would be
asked to communicate with their partner who is overseas using video calling. These skills also
fall into separate groups where more than one skill can be used in a specific activity. These
categories are ways of thinking, working, and living in the world. All of these skills have been
proven to be the most important skills to have in the 21st century and should be developed in each
classroom using technology to further students digital literacy.
If one is not digitally literate they will have trouble teaching students the 21st century
skills that need to be known to have a good job in the future. Because conventional methods
were used to teach skills of the past, a teacher who is not literate will not know the proper way to
teach these new skills. A teacher who does not understand the importance of being digitally
literate will have trouble connecting with their students and allowing them to use their known
skills with technology in the classroom.
The ISTE Teacher standards are a roadmap for teachers to develop skills to teach 21st
century skills because it forces teachers to involve technology in their classroom. These
standards are incorporated to facilitate and inspire student learning and creativity, design and
develop digital age learning experiences and assessments, model digital age work and learning,
promote and model digital citizenship and responsibility, and to engage in professional growth
and leadership. This standards are required for each teacher and are a roadmap for me because it
gives me goals to achieve as I am teaching my classroom so that I can reach each standard for
the ISTE.
Today there is so much more emphasis on using technology in the classroom than before
because 99.9% of the time technology will end up being used in their later careers. If students are
expected to use technology in the work field, why would teachers deprive them of practicing
their skills in the classroom where mistakes can be made? I do believe that there are limitations

for technology in the classroom because there are skills that need to be learned using human
interactions. In general, the push for using technology in the classroom is a good thing so that
students can be more successful later in life when they are deciding their career paths.