In between chasing my toddler daughter around this summer, I have been taking two online courses, one about teaching English Language Learners and one about teaching students the skills they will need to be successful in the 21st century. The 21st century skills course has required and gently prompted me to start a blog. I have a few anxieties about increasing the size of my digital footprint and publishing my thoughts and experiences on the web for anyone and everyone to read. But two of the 21st century skills I hope to impart to my students are risk-taking and adaptability. So I am adapting to the times; blogging seems to be one of the hippest ways out there to share your reflections, thoughts, and experiences and find like-minded people all over the world. And I'm taking a risk of adding myself to the mix and expecting to see many positive results.
As a teacher who wants to prepare her students to follow their dreams, learn from their stumbles, and be successful in their future, I have often found myself asking just what skills students will need to be successful in the future. According to many researchers (including Karl Fisch in his Did You Know Presentation), today's students will have 10-14 different jobs by the time they are 38 years old, and many of those jobs don't exist today. So my challenge as teacher, is to prepare students for jobs I can't imagine. I can't provide them with step-by-step instruction manuals for their future jobs. But I can provide them with academic knowledge, cultural knowledge and sensitivity, the confidence to use available technology and the flexibility to adapt as the technology changes, and life skills.
In order to do this, I have created my own framework for 21st Century Skills modeled after two currently existing frameworks, enGauge and Partnership for 21st Century Skills. If you would like to see my framework, you may access it here: http://docs.google.com/View?id=ds7ch2b_0c6hdqqhb.
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In this blog, I will share my experiences integrating emerging technology into my life and my teaching. This blog has been inspired by a course I am taking on Developing 21st Century Literacy Skills.
You are a busy Lady, Jen!
ReplyDeleteAs summer reaches its almost halfway point (sorry to have to bring that up), I am feeling like all of the pressures we felt to provide current, relevant educational opportunities to students through technology tools are gradually beginning to fade (right along with summer vacation - sorry again)! Some great thinker once said, "everything is easy, once you know how to do it." Now that we know (kind of) what to do, we can feel less daunted and better equipped to face this school year with a renewed dedication to injecting tech tools into our learning. Pretty cool!
Sarah
Jen,
ReplyDeleteYou write as if you have been blogging all your life! Thanks for sharing your framework again. I really like the way you are building your blog by incorporating concepts we are learning and tools you have created. This is wonderful!
Aron