21st Century Educators

21st Century is a term that is used a lot, particularly in education. Along with this term there is often debate and conversation revolving around exactly what this means. Kim Cofino's article, 5 Tips to Becoming a 21st Century Educator, highlights the importance of not just doing things differently in the classroom, but also outside of the classroom.

Being a 21st century educator means utilizing the available technology to engage and collaborate with professionals from around the world, not just the ones within your school walls. Learning with and from colleagues who are dedicated to educational best practice is stimulating and inspiring - your professional learning network (PLN) may just turn out to be the best professional development you have participated in for a long while. I justify this statement with 3 reasons:

1. It's ongoing - your PLN is not a 2 day conference that invigorates you for a week or two, it invigorates, inspires, and challenges everyday!
2. It's ready when you are - the PLN is ongoing and does not require you to miss classes or school days to participate (it doesn't even penalize you if you miss a couple of days)
   
3. It's Just In Time (JIT) - when you have a specific question that needs to be answered, or some help with a particular issue or problem, your PLN is there ready to offer advice, answers, and solutions

Being a 21st century educator isn't about technology, it's about being connected and engaged with professionals from all over the world. Today's technology simply makes it a lot easier to do this.