Redefining Teaching for the 21st Century Classroom

(...) Many 21st century classrooms still use what can best be described as a “broadcasting” method to teaching: one authority figure speaking out to a group without the group interacting back. Unfortunately, students too often “turn off” the teacher broadcast and valuable educational opportunities are lost as a result. We are now living in an interactive world in which two-way communication is the minimum expectation. So why is it that many of the same age-old teaching strategies are still abundantly in use today, such as lectures and worksheets? Though these approaches were relevant as long ago as in the 19th Century, thousands of teachers are still trained to use these one-way methods when it comes to facing their first classrooms. But, across the country these same teachers quickly begin to feel confused about engaging despondent students more naturally in the very lesson plans they have painstakingly and carefully invested in preparing. 
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