Being a 21st Century Teacher

I LOVE being a 21st century teacher! 

By most measures, teaching in general, and teaching computing in particular, is easier and more fun than ever before. A bold statement perhaps?  For me, the way technology facilitates community is key.

For starters, social media allows me to join a great club of fellow professionals. Entry criteria: a twitter account and a willingness to learn and share.

With the advent of resource-sharing sites like TES and primaryresources.co.uk, not to mention our own site, there really is no excuse for poorly planned, boring lessons.

If I get stuck and need to learn something new myself, well, just like Neo in the Matrix you can get on Youtube and learn just about anything (it can take a bit longer than it did for Keanu). For example I learned lots of Kodu tricks from @GeekyNicki and returned the favour with some Kodu and Flowol tutorials of my own.

In a typical day I can wake up to inspirational tweets from the likes of @urban_teacher,  @markbarnes19 and @ICTEvangelist. I can teach lessons from plans I've found and adapted from CAS, TES or computing super heroes like Simon Haughton, and in the evening I can study Computer Science at MIT.

I can't imagine, now, not being able to connect quickly and easily with the best educators in my chosen field.

Teaching from just your own experience, behind a closed door, from a book? 

That's so 20th century, darling!