21st Century Skills: Preparing For Success

Students today are up against more challenges than ever before as they enter the workforce. Gone are the days of memorizing facts, answering multiple choice test questions, and moving on to the next subject matter. The 21^st century is an age of new literacies, in which teachers must increase their teaching repertoires to include ICTs (Information Communication Technologies), and technicalities of not only finding information, but also evaluating, scrutinizing, and thinking critically of said information.

The Partnership for 21st Century Skills (2004) is a global organization focused on helping teachers and communities integrate technology and its accompanying skills sets into classrooms (Partnership for 21st Century Skills). The core subjects have remained constant through the years, but the necessary application of these subjects has evolved. We, as educators must evolve as well. We can do this through proper placement of these core subjects in the 21^st century contexts including global awareness, financial, economic and business and civic literacy (****). Critical thinking, creativity, and emphasis on the ability to continue learning and solve problems are the skills sets that must accompany the basics, in order to fully prepare today’s students for the working world of the 21^st century.

There was nothing on the 21^st Century Skills website that took me by surprise. The Partnership states the obvious. Dr. David Thornburg (2008) lectures to classes of educators regarding Alvin Toffler’s three waves and our coming into the new era of communication (Laureate, 2008). Professional educators, educational researchers, news anchors and politicians alike have been debating for years the need to integrate technological literacies into our classrooms. The worlds of technology and business are changing everyday. There is a major disconnect in the fact that our students are learning the same skills that even my grandparents learned in the classroom. “The Partnership encourages schools, districts and states to advocate for the infusion of 21st century skills into education and provides tools and resources to help facilitate and drive change” (Partnership for 21^st Century Skills, 2004).

The greatest benefit my students have in me as a contemporary educator lies in the fact that I am aware of changes and growth that need to occur in order to keep up with the constantly changing world around us. My English classroom will soon boast lessons on wikis, blogs, and podcasts, integrating practice with necessary skills of the 21^st century and the basic content knowledge of yesterday. A high school English teacher, my focus is on creativity, critical thinking, collaboration, problem solving, and decision making in the 21^st century contexts needed to help our students become productive members of society.

I cannot make this change over night, nor can I do it on my own. I plan to spend a lot of time researching and practicing with these new technologies while collaborating with my own colleagues, which I am fortunate enough to have worldwide, thanks to these new technologies. I will model safe, effective uses of ICTs right in my classroom. And I will emphasize that there is nothing to fear in learning and evolving with new technologies.

References

Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2008). Thornburg, D. (Speaker). Skills for the 21^st Century. In Understanding the impact of technology on education, work, and society. [Educational Video]. Baltimore: Author.

Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2008). Thornburg, D. (Speaker). The Third Wave. In Understanding the impact of technology on education, work, and society. [Educational Video]. Baltimore: Author.

Partnership for 21st Century Skills, (2004). The partnership for 21st century skills. Retrieved March 23, 2009, from The partnership for 21st century skills Web site: http://www.21stcenturyskills.org/index.php