Students of the 21st Century have been exposed to visual stimulus from a very early age for example, from visual enhanced children's books,TV's, computers, cell phones, video games, etc. Using visual literacy in the classroom has become a necessity in helping students remember, learn new material and relate new information to old information. For many students, making visual connections has become second nature to them. Visual literacy is an important part of education because it also helps students become prepared for the workforce. This trend can also be seen as more businesses and employers become dependent of the visual technologies.
The internet has a tremendous impact on student learning today. The internet provides access to teaching and networking tools. Some examples of teaching tools are WebQuests, virtual field trips, research, and publication. Networking tools include wikis, blogs, email, and discussion boards to name a few. All these tools facilitate learners of the 21st century by requiring higher level thinking, communication, and collaborative skills.
Both of these two trends are very evident in my New Tech classroom. All of my students have their own laptop and flash drives, oppose to textbooks and notebooks. Most of my students carry around a cell phone and i-touch oppose to a calculator and pen. These advances have directly caused me to change my approach in teaching. In stead of handouts I give out entry documents. These entry documents can take a variety of formats such as video, podcast, email, etc. My "units" are now projects that have a direct "real world" application or connection. My grade book does not use the following subheadings for assignments:"tests, quizzes, homework, essays", but instead the headings are: "Content (English 9 & technology), work ethic, collaboration, and communication". All of these advances allows me to help prepare my students for the 21st Century and beyond.
