Framework for 21st Century Learning

A look at 21st century learning sure made me excited for the direction education is hopefully going in, but also made me sweat a little--boy, we sure have a lot of work to do! Teaching the core subjects, learning and thinking skills, and life skills are obviously what we're used to doing--although at the elementary level I feel it's such a shame that we are not doing more for teaching foreign languages or the arts in particular. The 21st century content areas are definitely challenging to teach, simply because time runs out. This past school year my district implemented a health awareness program complete with textbooks and materials. I have to admit that those books sat on the shelf all last year and the TE remained with its plastic wrap around it--I simply did not have the time to use the materials. Sadly enough, with so much high-stakes testing, there is so much emphasis placed on reading and math as well as test-taking strategies that other content areas are pushed aside, such as global awareness. At the elementart level there just hasn't been that much done for Information and Communication technology literacy. I would like to think there is more done for this at the middle and high school levels. For the past 2 years my school had a technology specialist who ran a computer lab for our students to visit at least once a week. During this time students were able to learn computer skills, but we were just beginning to scratch the surface on getting them to think critically, solve problems, use information and communicate using technology. Now that we no longer have that position, or a computer lab, our students aren't getting the skills they need for new literacies. What's also problematic is the growing heap of computers which no longer function or have something wrong with them. Because we don't have a technology specialist to help keep up on the maintenace, the computers are sitting in corners collecting dust. I am glad to know that this website exists and that 21st century learning skills are receiving so much attention, and not just by educators. I feel like our work is very exciting in the way we might contribute to this development. I like what Randy Bomer said, "You cannot move into the new world with last-century teacher knowledge. Teachers are ready to learn, but they need acess to real innovation. They need to be asked themselves to be innovators." Just think of the implications this has for us as educators, but also for us as graduate students and future literacy leaders.