21st Century Skills for Students......Fisherpeople

This week, I listened to Dr. Chris Dede speak in the program "Technology Interfaces" from Laurete Education, Inc.  I was really interested in the idea of how teacher's roles have changed.  The workplace has changed and so must the learning environment that these future employees come from.

In this week’s resources, I was intrigued with the message of teaching students not just a program’s menus and tools to tweak things, but on the rhetoric of those programs. When should students use wikis, blogs, and videoconferences? I see this as being my challenge as a teacher. I am not teaching students the information as much as I am teaching them how to find information to answer their questions, and what is the proper platform to present their information. The 21st century skills for students require them to be more responsible for their learning. Are students ready for this?

In my classroom, I plan to change my role as the answer book, to the informational guide. By using blogs, wikis, and my webpage, I hope to collect valuable resources for students to utilize. Having more opportunities for project based learning and more team oriented assignments, I hope to instill the collaboration and communication skills that are necessary in the future work environment. By creating a classroom that fosters teamwork, communication, and problem solving, I hope to address many of the needs of my 21st century learners.

I am using the courses at Walden to improve my flexibility with technology. I will never know as much as my students do about technology, but we can all learn about it together. These courses are reminding me that it is about trying new things without a teacher’s guide. Thinking like my students, just pushing a button and learning from the mistakes and celebrations of others is extremely valuable learning.

Image from WWF   http://www.panda.org/about_our_earth/teacher_resources/own_goals/overfishing/