Teaching 21st century skills

Keeping up with our ever- changing world and skills has forced more teachers to restructure the classroom and better prepare our students.   With many of the new approaches to teaching, I feel I am equipped to teach 21st century learning.   I am already encouraging my students to become critical thinkers, while discussing themes or issues within the classroom.  Collaboration is another skill I have already incorporated into my classroom.  Students know they are expected to not only collaborate but also provide meaningful contributions to the group.  I feel equally prepared to incorporate technology into my classroom.  Students are expected to learn new programs.  After this week, I plan to find ways to ensure students are able to connect the programs and content learning to situations outside of school. 

Students in my classroom are more prepared to have success utilizing 21st century skills as they leave.  However, I do not feel students are as prepared as they should be.  With shortened class periods and standards that must be taught, sometimes the skills being used are not conducive to 21st century skills.  In my ideal world, I would have a balance that provides me with enough time to do it all.  As I continue on my journey, I hope to find ways to achieve success with this issue.

Reflecting on my classroom this year, I would say I have experienced success while teaching students to become problem solvers.  Many students have not been exposed to higher order thinking and become frustrated with questions that do not involve basic comprehension.  I even had one student tell me he does not want to think or conclude what the answer is, it should just be given.  Of course we had a class discussion on how this applied to his life in general! 

While I encourage students to become critical thinkers, it is an ongoing process.  I feel I have had some success because I can see their growth.  My students are required to complete literary analysis throughout the semester.  At the beginning of the year the students did not possess the skills to think about themes or ideas critically.  After working with my students, writing and re-writing I have seen improvement.  The challenge is even with improvement they are far from being able to apply this skill without proper guidance.  I also feel limited resources with technology hinders student's learning. With many websites blocked for students such as; YouTube, blogs and many images, students are unable to fully learn what the entire Internet has to offer.  Especially students that are unable to afford computers or Internet in their home.