I had a conversation with a teacher the other day. She was taking a graduate course on literacy in the digital media age, and had been, as part of the class, introduced to the framework for 21st century skills from the Partnership for 21st century Skills. The framework has been adopted by the state governor, school board, and department of education for this teachers state — one of the first states to adopt the program. However, she said that when a poster of the framework was recently given out at a faculty meeting at her school, she was the only teacher who had ever heard of it. She also said that nothing more was said about the initiative by the administrator who was leading the meeting.
Of course the problem is not the teachers, though they should be aware of progressive initiatives happening in education. The problem is not the administrator, who learned about the initiative as only one of a string of issues on the agenda of the leadership meeting where she received the bundle of posters, though she, too, should be aware of emerging issues.
The problem is — well there are lots of problems. And there are lots, lots, lots, of things we’re doing right. I guess that the problem is an institution that has been allowed and even encouraged to maintain a culture of work and expectations that were entirely appropriate for a highly successful industrial society that rested on an economic high, unconcerned by a creeping but accelerating flatness.
But a new century, a new global economy, a new environment of personal power, and a new information and media landscape demand a new culture and even definition for education and being educated.
So here’s your assignment for the day.
- How would you define the 21st century teacher?
- How would you define the 21st century classroom?
- How would you define the 21st century student?
Image Citation:
Nwar, Ryun. “Quintessential Kindergarten Teacher.” Orionoir’s Photostream. 22 Sep 2007. 3 Oct 2007 <http://flickr.com/photos/orionoir/1425775282/>.
It is darn hard to keep up with all the trends! And for an individual teacher to know which trend will ultimately hit her/his school within the next few months is nigh on impossible.
Maine has “adopted” the 21st Century Framework, but except for a few PowerPoints and an occasional statement from the Department of Ed, I’ve seen little to prove it. Should teachers take it seriously when they don’t hear about it at staff meetings or in-service sessions?
On top of NCLB, Reading First, adolescent literacy, SATs for all HS students, laptops, Fire Prevention week, Maine History Day, (alleged) PLCs, algebra for all, Michael Fullan, the 3Cs, the new Learning Results, etc. etc., it’s very difficult to find time to teach, let alone keep up on the news. And, in Maine, we are facing school reorganization on a massive scale! It’s all daunting and very scary…
Thanks, Matt. I especially liked the part about collaboration being part of the job.
I know I’m going to start a firestorm, but…
C’mon. Why should anyone be expected to take such a commercial piece of propaganda seriously. The document is virtually content-free and filled with corporate buzzwords and feel-good slogans. Some of the doublespeak can cause whiplash.
There must be more serious issues about what teachers know/don’t know and do/don’t do then keep up with pamphlets created by the high-tech industry.
Don’t 21st Century Skills include “Follow the money…,” “Who is the author?” or “Critical analysis of text?”
I’ve thought the same thing, Gary. But what does the job of teaching become, where teachers are at least aware of the program enough to make these judgements.
For the content, that state department of education is in the process of adapting, and in some cases re-writing, its standards to integrate 21st century skills. I do not know how well they are doing. Not an easy task.
There are deeper issues at play here. First, there is a laundry list of competing tasks that various govt. agencies dump on teachers. Also, there is no clear political leadership on the issue of 21st century skills, or STEM for that matter. Why should people care when we have a president who gives anti-intellectualism a bad name. He mispronounces words like “nucular” on purpose to make him comfy to the common folk who are his base. The problem is that he does nothing to lead us to higher dreams and aspirations.
Norma and I just finished day 1 of 2 days of sessions for the Federal Center on Technology Education here in Brazil. It is national science and technology week here. The school we spoke at has 7000 engineering students. I’ve long spoken of the growth of technological dominance in other countries. In the meantime, our retrograde immigration policy has forced Microsoft to open a new development lab in Vancouver since they couldn’t get enough visas for the PhD’s they were trying to get into the US.
The teacher can be forgiven for not knowing about the “21st century skills.” No one in power in the US seems to care about them anyway. Don’t blame her. Take your case to Washington. I’m sure if you speak really slow and use short words that most elected representatives will understand you.
In the meantime, will the last PhD to leave the US please turn out the lights.
David
Excellent point, David — and I love the line about the last PhD. But what does the teaching profession and the culture of the school look like, where the teacher is aware of initiatives (good or bad), where knowing about them and about the latest in their discipline and latest in best practices is part of their working day job.
It seems that talking to Washington, or Sacramento, or Raleigh, should involved an image, or at least suggestions, of what the 21st century teacher and learning culture actually looks like.
What have you seen in your travels, here in the U.S. and abroad, that is compelling, that knocks your socks off.
After 3 days of particularly discouraging interactions with some of my favorite hard working people – the teachers in my district – I have to agree with David Thornburg that there are so many other tasks that compete for teachers time – not the least of which is trying to stay on schedule and follow the prescribed programs (reading and math). Someone told me today told me that she doesn’t have time to do the “creative” things with kids anymore and yet Daniel Pink, NETS and who knows who else point out that creative people are what we need for the future. It’s discouraging to teachers when they can’t get off the almighty schedule to take that extra time for creative tasks. It’s hard for a teacher of young children to think beyond those kinds of demands.
I appreciate your post, Diane. The issue is, how do you convince teachers that creativity is not just another subject to be added to our current checklist. It’s a way of doing things. So what kind of assignments can we give students that challenge them to creatively learn their spelling words (give the kids a camera and ask them to take a picture of something that reminds them of their spelling words and then explain it to the class), and model creativity as we teach (start your lesson with a music video that you have constructed)?
I’m going to answer the questions but not at the same time. This touches on an issue that’s been stuck in my craw for a while now. We have to stop calling anything “21st Century” anything. It’s misleading to any educator who’s not an early adopter and delays truly large-scale reform. This is to say nothing of the fact that it’s a misnomer. If a skill is identified as one that is fitting and earns power for a learner in 2007, what proof have we that the same skill will be of value in 2099? Being able to operate a steam locomotive was a helpful tidbit in the early 20th century, but I don’t remember reading about it being an important skill during WWII.
Now, I know I’ve talked about the sidestepping often indicated by critiquing a name rather than an idea, but I feel this name has power.
By implying to educators that they are being provided a road map to what their students will need to be successful in the 21st century, we preclude the ability to return to those same educators in 2012 and throw out those skills for even newer ones.
This is to say nothing of the shortsightedness of the term. If contemporary history has shown us anything, it is that information, communication and creation are evolving more quickly than is possible to categorize or oftentimes qualify. Though 210th decade literacy skills doesn’t role off the tongue, it does come closer to the truth.
Dave, I’ve wondered the same thing and the term makes me itch as well. But to tell you the truth, I can’t think of anything better. 21st Century is something of a focal point that everyone can connect to. It’s an anchor. Of course the need for new skills and new literacies emerged several years before 2000. But we are on the cusp of some pretty dramatic and traumatic changes that are redefining much of who we are. So we need something to call it.
I guess I’m satisfied with 21st century ###, and am willing to leave it up to 2010 to come up with its own label. But that’s just me.
Regardless of what we call it, what does that teacher look like, what does his work day look like, what is the school culture of an education system that is adapting to these times of rapid change.
* How would you define the 21st century teacher?
* How would you define the 21st century classroom?
* How would you define the 21st century student?
Connected, Collaborative, Creative…and free of the limitations of standardized testing!
I teach in a small public charter school. We’re a project based school where students decide what they want to learn, how they will learn it, and how they will communicate the results of their learning. We have no bells, no homework and no tests. Students decide how to organize their day in the way that works best for them. As they are not constrained by a bell schedule or a prescribed curriculum, they have the time to explore topics of interest to them thoroughly and deeply.
I was going to answer your questions myself. Instead, I shared your post and asked a couple of students how they would respond. Here are the thoughts of one of them –
What defines a 21st Century teacher?
A 21st century teacher will guide students. He or she will not be the sole distributor of knowledge, but will instead be a a sort of guide; overseeing projects and inspiring students to do their best, and pointing them towards valuable resources. They will provide a gateway to both local and global opportunities for students to showcase their work. Teachers will become experts in their own field and collaborate with their colleagues to develop project spanning multiple content areas. The archaic practice of separating content areas will no longer apply.
What defines a 21st Century student?
A 21st century student will be responsible for their learning. The students themselves will be taught to find reputable information, and they will build a sort of resource cache for future projects. They will be in control of their learning; from managing their projects from start to finish to prioritizing their time throughout the day. Students will also become experts in their own field(s). They will collaborate with one another and share resources for their learning. Assignments will be much more in-depth than they are now. They will work with each-other digitally on their assignments.
What defines a 21st Century classroom?
This is by far the most open ended of the definitions. A 21st century learning environment isn’t constrained to the physical walls of a classroom. It can be so much more. Students can use wireless devices to enable an ‘anytime anywhere’ learning model. This could be in the form of wireless tablets, laptops, UMPCs (Ultra Mobile PCs, looking very promising for this concept), or even cellphones and PDAs. In a physical sense, classrooms should be a collaborative learning environment. Students aren’t tied to their desk as in a traditional school, and are able to work with other students on the fly.
I’m Jonathan Rodriguez. I’m a student attending the High Point Charter School of Sparta, WI. Our school doesn’t have classrooms and there are no period bells. We’re also lucky enough to have access to a wide range of online tools such as Voicethreads, flickr, Animoto, Picknik, Google Docs, and a slew of others. We are a community of learners and we create some truly amazing things here.
This is exactly how I envision 21st century schools, students and teachers.
Your school seems to be doing as much as it can to enable individualized learning for it’s students (and teachers!).
Unfortunately, these practices aren’t instituted as widely as I hope they are someday…so I wonder, how can we teach others about the experience of Mr. Rodriguez and his ‘classmates’?
Thanks for sharing…
Wow, could those first few responses been any MORE pompous? I try to keep up, it’s hard, but I do enjoy guides, resources, etc. that make me push myself.
Perhaps Gary Stager and David Thornberg have a case of sour grapes?
Dear Jared,
Can you please share a few examples of what exactly in the Partnership for 21st Century Skills materials makes you “push” yourself?
I think many of us would be interested.
Hope you’re having a wonderful day,
Gary
I would define all three with one phrase I guess- the ability to connect, create, collaborate and problem solve. If we give our students anything less than the tolls with which to accomplish these, we are short changing ourselves.