MAT 671 Assignment 3B- 21st century skills

21st Century Skills in the Classroom

The term 21st century skills refers to a set of abilities that students need to develop in order to succeed in the information age. The goal of education in the recent years has shifted to ensure that students are prepared for college, careers and citizenship when they finish their k-12 careers.

The most basic way to define the essential 21st century skills are by the 4Cs which was coined by the Partnership, a group of corporations that partnered with the U.S. Department of Education back in 2002. The 4Cs are: collaboration, communication, creativity, and critical thinking.

The prior skills that schools used to teach still apply to students of the information-age, but the list of skills has expanded. The older skills included:

• knowing a trade
• following directions
• getting along with others
• working hard
• being professional-- efficient, prompt, honest, and fair

In addition to these skills, it is important that educators focus on also teach students how to:

• think deeply about issues
• solve problems creatively
• work in teams
• communicate clearly through multiple medias
• learn ever-changing technologies
• deal with a flood of information

States and government have stepped in to help schools and educators to adopt new standards that will promote these ideas.

For classrooms, this means there is change to be made. Examples of what to expect in classrooms that promote these ideals would be:

• Classrooms that have clusters of desks rather than rows to promote collaboration.
• Curriculum that is integrated where there is less information dispensed, but where students are asked to generate knowledge.
• Teachers will likely move away from traditional pencil and paper quizzes or assessments and instead use more alternative assessments such as projects, or even have students model a situation.
• Complex, real-world problem solving skills will be used with the curriculum.

According to Linda Krulock and Elizabeth Hofreuter-Landini, writers from the online periodical, The Intelligencer, "21st-century skills are far more than technology skills put to use in the classroom. This is real world learning that will equip children with the skills to survive in the 21st century in jobs or careers that we cannot even imagine right now" (2011).

What to expect as a teacher in the 21st century? I plan to learn and use the following 8 characteristics of highly effective 21st century teachers as outlined by Andrew Churches:

1. Adapting: being able to adapt the curriculum and requirements in order to teach the curriculum in imaginative ways. Also, educators must to be able to adapt hardware and software into tools to be used by a variety of age groups and abilities.
2. Being Visionary: "Educators must look across the disciplines and through the curricula; they must see the potential in the emerging tools and web technologies, grasp these and manipulate them to serve their needs" (2009).
3. Collaborating: leverage tools such as Blogger, Wikispaces, Twitter, RSS, etc. to enhance and captivate learners.
4. Taking Risks: take risks and sometime surrender yourself to the students' knowledge. Identify the goals and facilitate the learning.
5. Learning: Teachers must continue to absorb experiences and knowledge and also become life-long learners as you expect your students to become.
6. Communicating: 21st century teachers must be fluent in tools and technologies that enable communication and collaboration.
7. Modeling behavior: The expectation is that teachers teach values, which also means that we must be models of the behavior we expect from our students. This includes modeling tolerance, global awareness, and reflective practice.
8. Leading: leadership is crucial to the success or failure of any project.

In my own classroom I just want to focus on being innovative and adaptive to technology and the needs of the students and requirements of the curriculum. I am a huge fan of incorporating technology as often as possible since it is very prominent in our everyday lives. I also am fortunate enough to have been in the business world for 11 years so I have experiences that I can share with my students that are practical. I also plan to use my colleagues to help me be inventive and creative.

The skills embedded in the classroom require a transformative shift in the way teachers present information to students, the way students interact with their learning, and the way students collaborate and share their learning with their peers. Students today need a repertoire of knowledge and skills that are far more diverse, complex, and integrated than any other previous generation.

References

 

Churches, A. (2009, September 4). Teaching Skills: What 21st Century Educators Need To Learn To Survive. Retrieved January 17, 2016, from http://www.masternewmedia.org/teaching-skills-what-21st-century-educators-need-to-learn-to-survive/

 

Integrating 21st Century Skills. (n.d.). Retrieved January 17, 2016, from http://edison.dpsk12.org/integrating-21st-century-skills/

 

Krulock, L., & Hofreuter-Landini, E. (n.d.). Why Are '21st-Century' Skills Important? Retrieved January 17, 2016, from http://www.theintelligencer.net/page/content.detail/id/552994/Why-Are--21st-Century--Skills-Important-.html?nav=505

 

What are 21st century skills? (2015, August 17). Retrieved January 17, 2016, from https://k12.thoughtfullearning.com/FAQ/what-are-21st-century-skills