Why do students need 21st century skills?
Every child in American needs 21st century knowledge and skills to succeed as effective citizens, workers and leaders in the 21st century. There is a profound gap between the knowledge and skills most students learn in school and the knowledge and skills they need in typical 21st century communities and workplaces. To successfully face rigorous higher education coursework, career challenges and a globally competitive workforce, U.S. schools must align classroom environments with real world environments by infusing 21st century skills into their teaching and learning.
-Partnership for 21st Century Skills
As an educator, I take this statement to heart. I understand that my role as a kindergarten teacher is to lay the foundation for the development of the necessary skills my students will need to be successful as they enter the workforce in about 15 years. The 21st Century Skills must be vital components in the education of every child in America if we hope to produce productive, successful individuals ready to enter the global workforce. The website of the Partnership for 21st Century Skills at http://www.21stcenturyskills.org/ is a useful site for familiarizing yourself with the mission, resources, and basics of 21st Century Skills. Be sure view the skills framework and student outcomes for vital information on the skills.
I was quite surprised by how many of the P21 partners are kid-oriented, such as Scholastic, Lego, Sesame Workshop, and Disney, and quite disappointed in the fact that so little of the information on the site pertains to working with young students. While it’s true that the 21st Century skills must be honed in higher grades, they must be introduced from the very beginning. More information on how to better teach and implement the skills would be welcome and very useful.
How, as a kindergarten teacher, can I be sure that I am introducing 21st Century Skills in a way that conveys to my students how important these skills are? How hard should I push my students into thinking more critically, problem solving, and communicating complexly? What is considered developmentally appropriate in teaching these skills to young students?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
Hi Erin,
ReplyDeleteI think that at the kindergarten age, your students are not going to realize how important those skills are, but to be introduced to them at an early age would only help reinforce those same skills down the road.
Pushing your kids to be more complex thinkers, problem solvers and being able to communicate at a more complex level might be difficult. The brain takes the information that we teach our students and uses it as building blocks, so the first grade teacher will take what you taught and go a little deeper, then the second grade teacher will take what the first grade teacher and what you taught, and go a little further. Being able to teach 5 and 6 year olds higher level thinking is probably asking a little much, as far as they are concerned, what they are being taught is higher level to them already.
Erin,
ReplyDeleteI also teach kindergarten students in my computer lab and just getting them the basic skills to operate the computer correctly takes a lot of time. It is totally worth it to have them using the technology as much as they can. Students who were fortunate enough to have my lab twice a week when they were in kindergarten are really adept at using the technology for higher level skills now that they are in the middle grades. Those who only came to lab once a week are better off than those who do not have the opportunity to use technology on a regular basis in an educational setting.
Erin,
ReplyDeleteI must agree with Erika. Your students are very young, but capable. In 5th grade Science, we are currently discussing making predictions creating a hypothesis). We make these predictions by using previous knowledge/using our "backpack" of schema taught to us at a very early age. My point is that students may not understand what the technical name is for the 21st century skill, but you will be greatly helping the 5th grade teachers down the road. As the students become more mature, they will use the knowledge you gave them to build upon it.
You have a difficult job with teaching these skills to kindergarten students. I am sure you teach these skills daily without ever even realizing that your students are learning valuable lifelong skills. I can imagine in Kindergarten, you try to use skills that reinforce character and proper social skills the most. I have never taught at an elementary level, but skills that promote being productive to society and basic character and social skills are very important in extablishing a foundation for these age students to grow.
ReplyDeleteErika,
ReplyDeleteI think most teachers value the 21st century skills (but maybe don't refer them by that name), and will continue to teach them in later grades. But I do think that the skills need to be reintroduced to teachers under this name so that teachers can jump on board and really come up with a plan to work together to truly prepare our students for the future.
Brianna,
ReplyDeleteI really think that we're all teaching the skills without realizing it, but it's good that we're all becoming more aware of the way we're teaching. This Master's program has allowed me to reflect on my teaching in wonderful ways, and having people like you to work with has helped me tremendously!
It is hard to teach these skills to younger students. After reading the website, I am more aware of the skills, and will try to incorporate them more into my lessons. I went to a Teaching and Technology conference today, and there were a lot of vendor advertising their product as part of the 21st Century skills.
ReplyDeleteErin, I give you credit for wanting to incorporate a new technology concept to Kindergarten students. Your students will love any new skill learned on the computer, so I would not worry about pushing them too hard. I think the best way for you to implement new ideas with technology to your students is to do it in small groups. You could do it as a center activity where you or a parent could work with a group of four directly or have parents come in the day you are teaching it and have them assist you in the computer lab. Have fun and Good luck!
ReplyDelete