21st Century Skills and My School

The school that I currently work at does incorporate the 21st century skills in some different ways, but on different levels.

The Digital Age-The digital aspect of the skills is Incorporated through the district. We have computers and technology that is available. The students do take computer classes and develop their skills through these technologies. There is always room to improve and expand on this area due to the constant change and the cost to incorporate these skills. The multicultural aspect is addressed whenever possible through the school, but of course this is a skill that comes through a lot of students personal life experiences.

Inventive Thinking-I think that inventive thinking is an area that doesn't lie so much on the district as it does on the teacher. My view of the school that I am in is that it does incorporate these skills, but that is because I choose to use them in my personal teaching. The district does incorporate workshops and always supplies ideas for best practices that use these skills, but I really think that to incorporate these skills it must be a part of ones own philosophies of teaching. The skills are there through the projects I do such as allowing for a student to approach a project in their own creative way. Whenever possible I try not give them complete direction and let the student use their thinking and ideas.

Effective Communication- This is another area that I feel is not a sole responsibility of the district, but relies on beliefs. My district promotes these ideas and encourage teachers to use these skills in their planning. Whenever possible we have time to collaborate with one another, which is what we want to encourage students to do. I recently had to participate in a "learning walk" which Incorporated these skills. This was a team building expieriance and it was a way to develop this area as teachers and really collaborate. These skills for students can be incorporated through different activities and projects in the classroom.

High Productivity- This area is covered more through the district. They set the bar for what needs to be accomplished. The teacher is the one that has to instill these values on the students though. If a teacher allows for students to work on several projects at once they will quickly learn how to prioritize and produce quality work in a timely manner. I do think that sometimes this skill can cause a problem because of society's demand to get things done fast. It does become an issue because everything feels so rushed and sometimes children can't be rushed like an adult can. I think this is a skill that needs to develop with maturity.


So overall, I do think that my school is promoting these skills. They are making us aware of them through different school actives, the curriculum, team building among teachers and suggestions. The big problem with it is that it is really something that I think is determined by the teacher. A teacher that chooses to have students use technology, work in groups, be creative, think outside the box, and manage time incorporates these skills. The only problem is that some do not believe in these approaches. So I guess the question is how can districts get all teachers to move towards incorporating these goals?