The 21st century is here whethere we like it or not. The world is going to continue to change around us and we, as teachers, need to be adaptable and open to change as well. Many of us do not like change, but we need to think that this not only for us, but more importantly, it is for our students. The students will not be ready for the future that will be there for them if we do not start making changes now.
After investigating the website, Partnership for 21st Century Skills, I could not help but agree with much of what I read. This agreeableness could stem from the fact that I am a math teacher and enjoy technology like many others, so I can see the impact of the ever changing world very clearly. The Partnership for 21st Century Skills feels that students need to be taught other skills beyond the 3 R’s that our generation grew up learning. The Partnership does not dismiss the importance of these skills, but it adds on many other skills that are going to be just as important in the future. These skills include: critical thinking and problem solving, communication, collaboration, and creativity and innovation (they refer to these as the 4 C’s). This site also establishes many states that have adopted their ideas through legislature, and my state, Ohio, is one of the many.
Upon further research, I came across a group that I am familiar with, eTech Ohio which is an established organization that sees the importance of all these skills to the future of our students and makes it their mission to educate and train the teachers in Ohio to help do so. The eTech organization offers conferences and training sessions and makes other resources available to Ohioans to help bridge the ever widening gap. I have attended and even presented at their conference in the past and it was very rewarding and educational.
Teaching is going to be changing for us and we need to be prepared and well informed. This organization, Partnership for 21stCentury Skills, seems to be on the right track of helping others see the importance of this change. As a teacher, I cannot help but wonder ‘when will I find time to fit this into my curriculum?’, but that is something that I cannot worry about now. There are far more important things to focus on... getting our students ready and prepared for their future needs to be on the top of our list.
Jamie, I too have been wondering how teachers will add technology to a plate that is already full to over flowing.My thought is that we use the technology to "do the same thing differently" so that the core information we already are forced to teach is done in a manner that supports technology use.
ReplyDeleteI agree with your plan as well. I think that will make the transition easier for many teachers... we need to think about adding things to our lessons, but not to our "plates".
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