Teaching 21st Century Skills (May 25)

Teaching 21st Century Skills to a population of tech-savvy students gives cause for preparation and pro action. One might think these words are one in the same, but in the field of education, a teacher much always not only be prepared for his or her lesson, but also be pro active with the various directions a lesson might take if not properly investigated.

Challenges I face in teaching these skills include, but are not limited to the ever changing world that is technology. The newest, latest and greatest gadget is only the latest and greatest for a short time. In time they will be inundated with necessary updates that, typically, require additional monies for programs to interface and work properly. The secret is finally out amongst the public that funding is gone, therefore technology updates do not take high priority when it comes to spending.

Another challenge I face when teaching 21st Century skills is in the allotted time that is given to our students for technology. Yes, I do utilize the Promethean Board and I have a few computers in my classroom that are dedicated student computers, but unfortunately they are the slowest computers and they rarely get used because of our regimented grade level schedule. We do centers where a group of 5 will work on computer testing games for 20 minutes at the time, but the students are not able to research and use their knowledge and imagination to build programs within the computer. In other words, they are using computers as typewriters or large calculators, which is a disservice to the students, but this is our local policy.

To increase the use of computers in my classroom, I have requested additional machines, as many computers were replaced in the computer lab and I never know until I ask therefore we are keeping our fingers crossed. Also, we have instituted a classroom blog. Through the blog, the students are given a topic once per week that must be answered using good writing conventions and they must respond to classmate's posts (much like our Discussion). Through trial and error, we have also added an "Anything" topic by which the students can use their "text talk" and make posts to one another. All post are approved by me prior to being posted so I can write necessary comments and trash comments if necessary prior to their arrival at the message board.

Each of these challenges have required me to be a more prepared and pro active teacher. When dealing with technology, I have learned that you must test and retest each site you ask you students to visit to ensure your system's firewall will allow you to visit and to ensure the validity of the sites content. Each of these areas have given me cause to adapt teaching 21st century skills into my instructional practice to promote advanced communication and thinking.