The 21st Century Teacher

After looking at different teaching methods and experiencing the twentieth century model, I can see as a prospective teacher how the twenty-first century model of teaching is very important for students to be immersed in.  With society and the workforce changing, the curriculum needed to change to meet the needs of our new world.  Keeping these shifts in mind when teaching our own students later on will be beneficial for them as well as ourselves.

The shift in the Ontario curriculum since 2010 is very important to the teaching of the students.  In the Arts curriculum, the Dramatic Arts section focuses on not only the fundamentals that existed when the course was taught to me, but also more developed aspects such as new experimental theatre, improvisation being taught beside the groundbreaking works of Brecht and other post-modernist artists.

Utilizing twenty-first aspects just as Assessing for and as the curriculum as well as the backward model will allow for teachers to be able to focus their lessons around society's growing demands and changing atmosphere.  Utilizing these methods in a theatre setting will allow a teacher to see where each of their students are and how they learn best.  Keeping this in mind, the teacher can adjust the lessons and gear certain lessons to the interests of the students, such as focusing in a tactile fashion for the production section of theatre.

Also utilizing the power bases, such as referent power in theatre, allows for students to be able to relate to their teacher and learn from them in a safe environment and allows for different learning styles to flourish under this teacher regulation, unlike the twentieth century legitimate power style which contributed to the Fordian assembly line mentality.

Finally, with the Know, Do, Be criteria, teachers will be able to figure out what their students should be able to accomplish and organize their work and lessons so that each individual student can reach their full potential under this umbrella.

Having this style of teaching to draw from allows teachers to be able to make a more student-centered education model that will allow students to be able to succeed and pursue their own paths instead of streaming them into categories based on the curriculum.  Having options like this will also allow for students to be able to pursue any career path without the societal pressure of being bound to a certain institution.  Twenty-first century teaching is providing a more optimal solution for the future which can only become even more beneficial to students as time progresses and this method is tried.