Creating Meaningful experiences through 21st Century Skills

Creating Meaningful experiences through 21^st Century Skills

     How often do you question yourself as an educator?  I find that I tend to question myself multiple times within a day.  The thought occurs to me; doesn’t that mean I am a good educator?  A complacent educator would be one that sees no need for improvement.  After all, they are already perfect.  Some educators, like myself, constantly rethink, redo and revise their approach to teaching.  And truly that is what teaching is all about.  Often educators get stuck, though, and cannot find a way to reinvent the wheel.  The idea of “it takes a village” comes into play.  Counting on your colleagues to model new approaches to learning is a way to create success in our schools.  And one students’ success is everyone’s success.  We are invested in one another's achievement (Knight, 2007).  Knowing that we are a team and we can learn from one another collaboratively is a major step to schools, and districts even, to finding success for all learners. 

     But part of making the choice to apply a new learning skill through modeling also takes responsibility from the educator.  The weight of this responsibility is the fact that we cannot backpedal on education.  We have to move forward.  Our students are a new kind of learners and it is our responsibility to not change them, but change us (21^st CLD, n.d.).  We need to apply 21^st century skills for 21^st century learners.  Using collaboration, skilled communication, real world problem solving and self-regulation, to name a few, will take what we know about education and reinvent it for 21^st century learners (21^st CLD, n.d.).  Using these skills will help to create meaningful experiences for your student by providing them with authentic learning that they will remember throughout their life.  

Just because you come from an unassuming place doesn't mean you can't do great things-Tyler Joseph

   Counting on your coworkers can often be the best way to change one’s learning mindset (Couros, 2015).  It can also be the best way to recognize that you are using a skill successfully.  This means, looking to your coworkers to guide you to use learning tools like technology in the best way.    I have found my new favorite way to introduce my kinders to technology is through the use of virtual field trips on skype.  Although this is a small step, it is a step I wouldn’t have taken without the modeling and encouragement of others.  As I continue through my skype journey, I am finding new and inventive ways to apply deeper meaning to our virtual field trips through student collaboration and real-world problem solving skills.  But what good is all this knowledge if I am not sharing it with others?  I see how Skype has brought the world into our classroom.  Why wouldn’t I share that with the world?  An educator taking what they know and helping to build other educators up is truly the sign of the best way to use new ideas, even technology. 

My students visiting Antarctica via Skype Virtual Field Trip

You can learn more about 21^st Century Skill by creating a Microsoft Educator account and completing the 21^st CLD course. Follow this link to complete the course.  You could be the colleague that others model their teaching after.  Time to get on it!

References

21st Century Learning Design (21^st CLD). (n.d.). Retrieved January 18, 2017, from https://education.microsoft.com/Learning/LearningPrograms/Detail/154

Couros, G. (2015). The innovator's mindset: empower learning, unleash talent, and lead a culture of creativity. San Diego, CA: Dave Burgess Consulting, Inc.

Knight, J. (2007). Instructional coaching: a partnership approach to improving instruction. Thousand Oaks, CA: NSDC

 

Call to Action!

A Call to Action!

All educators have been there.  Another meeting.  Another agenda.  Another requirement to add onto our list of “to dos”.  Yet another thing to do with our limited amount of time.  It gets tedious and redundant.  And as educators we are very resistant to try these new ideas.   We don’t have time, we have our routine, we have our own teaching style.  Why should we change it??

Because we need to.  As much as we deny that students are changing, they are.  And they will continue to.  And we need to change with them (21^st CLD, n.d.). Transformation of teaching never comes easy though.  I, like many educators out there, like my own routine, my own time and my own style of teaching.  But as I read that last sentence, I realize how many “my”’s are there.  And education isn’t about me.  It is about my students and their future.  In order to help them have even a glimmer of a chance of a solid one, I need to stop putting myself first and let them take the lead.  All teachers do.  I have the potential to help all educators make a change, and so do you. 

Being a leader of change is never easy.  I am certain that educators may like their colleagues or administers when they are not presenting new information.  However, somehow, when they hit the floor and begin to tell you what you need to do, all the happy feelings are gone.  So how can you be an agent of change without all the nasty side effects?  I have a couple of basic ideas for you…

Our job is not to control those whom we serve but to unleash their talent. -George Couros

Create a Relationship with People

This goes for ALL your people; co-workers, parents of students, even students themselves.  Everyone is resistant to change.  However, if it comes from someone they care about, and that cares for them, then you are more likely going to have success (Couros, 2015).  Once you have a relationship built, you can start small with introducing change.  Try to make the group you are working with as small as possible to help create more meaning to the new information being introduced.  Offer to show them how to make it work in their classroom.  Create a climate of trust and respect for other peoples needs and time.  Once you have mutual respect, you have it all! 

If we want meaningful change, we have to make a connection to the heart before we can make a connection to the mind. –George Couros

Create a Community

We have all heard the phrase, “it takes a village”.  Education is just that, a village.  Educators need to realize that we are all in this together.  Your students are my students and we are invested in their future.  Regardless of their room number, age, if they were previous students or new, ALL of them are ours.  Above all else, leaders of change are creators of collaboration (Knight, 2007).  Model to co-workers that you are invested in them and their students.  Show them that you only want the best for both. 

So here is my “call to action” to all teachers; be the change!  And while you are beginning the change, show others how they can too.  

References

21st Century Learning Design (21^st CLD). (n.d.). Retrieved January 18, 2017, from https://education.microsoft.com/Learning/LearningPrograms/Detail/154

Couros, G. (2015). The innovator's mindset: empower learning, unleash talent, and lead a culture of creativity. San Diego, CA: Dave Burgess Consulting, Inc.

Knight, J. (2007). Instructional coaching: a partnership approach to improving instruction. Thousand Oaks, CA: NSDC.