Technological advancements have affected many areas of our lives, including how we communicate, collaborate, learn, and of course, teach. Teaching is no more confined only within the four walls of a classroom. Nowadays, online teaching is as effective as a classroom-based one. As a result, teaching is not the same as it was a decade ago.
And so, if you want to be a teacher of today, you need to learn some skills. Eager to know about these? Here, we have listed down these for you.
- Learning skills
Vary in terms of importance; learning skills are the need of the hour for the 21st-century teachers. The four C’s that denote the learning skills include critical thinking, creativity, collaboration, and communication.
Critical thinking is essential for improvement and helps teachers to find a solution to a problem while without being creative; teachers can’t present a topic in an interesting way before students and make learning easy for them. It is also vital as a means of adaptation. This skill empowers teachers to see things in a different light that leads to innovation.
Collaboration means working together and get the best possible results from solving a problem. To collaborate you should be ready to sacrifice parts of your own ideas and adopt others to get the best result possible.
And finally comes communication brings all of these educational qualities together. Teachers should know how to communicate effectively with the students and other teachers and eliminate confusion.
- Literacy skills
Next, the literacy skills come. Also known as IMT skills, they are each concerned with a different element in digital comprehension. Three elements of literacy skills include information literacy, media literacy, as well as technology literacy. Being the foundational skill, it helps you understand facts and separate these from friction.
Media literacy is the practice of recognizing outlets, methods and sources while differentiating between the ones that are credible and the ones that are not. Media literacy helps find the truth in a world that is flooded with information. Teachers can understand which media outlets to embrace and which one to ignore.
And then technology literacy comes. Teaching online is not possible without being acquainted with the fundamental of technology. Technology literacy provides basic information and removes the intimidating feeling that technology tends to have. Moreover, it uncovers the high-powered tools that run today’s world.
- Life skills
Also familiar as FLIPS, it is the final category. Although these skills including flexibility, leadership, initiative, productivity and social skills pertain to someone’s personal life, these are equally important in professional settings.
Flexibility is the expression of one’s ability to adapt to changing circumstances. This skill needs you to show humility and accept that you will always have a lot to learn, even when you are experienced. Flexibility is also vital to your long-term success in a career. Knowing when to change, how to change and how to react to change is a skill that will pay dividends for your entire life.
Leadership skills allow you to lead the entire classroom when teaching them. But to get ahead with the leadership skills, one requires initiative – working on things outside of working hours. Besides, productivity is also crucial to discover ways in which they work best while gaining an appreciation for how others work as well.
Today’s teachers also need to possess a lot of social skills, such as manners, etiquette, politeness and small talk while working in an educational setting, irrespective of whether it is a physical setting or an online one.
These are the skills that you need to hone to be a successful teacher. Do you want to learn these skills or improve these? Opt for International College of Training and Development, a reputable institution. They bring you the opportunity to improve your skills. So, what to wait for? Enroll today for a better tomorrow!