By: Paul Moll -- Reflections of a 21st century teacher trying to keep up. If you are a teacher like me, trying to juggle all of the skill sets, buzz words, and pedagogies flying your way as a teacher in 2022, your head might be spinning a little….or a lot. What should I focus on? Hard or soft skills? Teamwork? Problem solving? Digital literacy? Numeracy? Leadership? As a teacher that wants my students to be engaged, have fun, and yet be prepared for the future, I’m constantly trying to refine my list of essential skills into something practical and manageable. To make sense and manage the jug ..read more

By: Paul Moll Constructionism was one of my favorite buzz word teaching theories in my graduate course work because it combines creating, collaborating, and solving problems which are all cornerstones of 21st Century teaching. Constructionism is based on the belief that meaningful learning is best accomplished when making real world connections and building knowledge by employing a student’s background knowledge about a subject (Khan, 2019).  Constructionism also places importance on the practice of problem solving and giving students a variety of ways to communicate their ..read more

by: Paul MOll Information literacy is a modern day skill set that is not only important for students but imperative for citizens of society to be successful in just about any trade or profession. The ability to intelligently and safely navigate the internet, gather information, and evaluate sources of information is becoming increasingly important. Teachers and students are ever more reliant on web based tools and virtual worlds for all types of academic, social, and even emotional needs. The Covid -19 Pandemic accelerated these changes in education. As a middle school teacher, I knew a gap e ..read more

By: Paul Moll Providing relevancy for your students within lessons is not a new trend in education. However, the technology tools and methods available to do it are growing every year. One teacher trick, I pride myself in, is the ability to identify an important concept in my unit and show students how it is secretly already impacting their lives. For example, when teaching the use of thematic geography maps to 7th graders, instead of drilling them with analysis questions about maps I choose, I give them a job as members of the next International Olympic Committee. Their job is to choose the ..read more