Seems like in my life as an educator teachers have been in one of two categories: either we supported skills like decision making, problem solving, communications, etc. OR we were advocates for the basic skills. Well, FINALLY we’ve figured out that our responsibilities to kids lies in both arenas if they’re going to be successful. And that challenges us to think beyond what WE know and moves us into what our STUDENTS must know. Hard, but I think we can figure it out.
The 21st Century Partnership folks have a nice graphic that makes the case. The inner green half circle represents the basic skills – kids have to be able to read, write, do math, understand government, etc.… the things we’ve traditionally taught in school. The purple arc on the right brings in the information, media, and technology arena, which is changing at an extraordinary rate. The yellow arc at the top of the diagram represents learning and innovation skills and the red arc on the left acknowledges the importance of life and career skills. More about all the areas can be found at this website:
http://www.21stcenturyskills.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=254&Itemid=120
What do you think? Can we do it all? How? What kind of training and support will educators need to do this work? Thanks for your ideas... Susie
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