Elizabeth Fritz
Creativity, Communications, Global Awareness & More: 21st Century Skills
Des Moines Marriot,
February 16, 2009
Steps you can take toward 21st century skills.
21st century teaching and learning is about improving instruction for all. It is about understanding that there are essential concepts and skills that all students need to possess in order to compete in this global society.
It is about:
1. Providing our educators the tools and resources to adjust instruction;
2. Providing student learning opportunities that are meaningful and challenging; and
3. Analyzing data and student information that indicates if we are hitting the mark.
The document “Framework for 21st Century Learning” states, “We believe schools must move beyond a focus on basic competency in core subjects to promoting understanding of academic content at much higher levels by weaving 21st century interdisciplinary themes into core subjects.” 21st century skills bridge the knowledge, skills, and dispositions of students from the core academic areas to real life application (2007).
We know these 21st century skills are already accomplished in our arts classrooms in many ways. This framework rationale should enable us to embrace cross-curricular learning and teaching, motivate us to further our own professional development, and help provide substantive evidence of our student’s learning.
Three Steps for 21st Century Learning
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2yCB4i7GJuM
This video presents three possible steps to take toward 21st century learning. In the 21st century, teachers should always be open to social change, classroom change and world change.
“The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn and relearn.”
- Alvin Toffler (Future Shock)
Students will need the skills of competition, cooperation and collaboration to be literate in the 21st century. They will need these skills to compete, cooperate, and collaborate with people around the globe. How do we help our students become culturally literate, 21st century learners? How can we introduce our students to their global peers? (J.H., 2007). How can our arts classes be used to promote this scenario? How can our core subjects be enhanced and integrated with arts instruction to accomplish this goal?
Step 1
Transform your classroom into a creative learning space.
I never teach my pupils; I only provide the conditions in which they can learn.
- Albert Einstein
What is the learning environment in your music classroom? Is it a sterile room with a “drill and kill” rehearsal structure? Students can use music to tell stories. They also problem-solve, discuss, concentrate, use logic, and learn when to be serious. Creating music uses inductive-deductive reasoning. “Business leaders and policymakers more and more say those higher-order, critical-thinking, communication, technological, and analytical skills are the ones crucial for students to master as they enter a service-oriented, entrepreneurial, and global workplace (Sawchuck, 2009). We can help prepare our students to be global, 21st century citizens and lifelong learners.
Teach students the skills of: Competition, Cooperation, and Collaboration.
We must teach students to compete with themselves and cooperate with others.
We do this in our music classroom through the cooperative nature of making music. We foster competing to a performance standard by participating in our state festival series.
Iowa’s Identified Employability Skills:
· Communicate and work productively with others, incorporating different perspectives and cross cultural understanding, to increase innovation and the quality of work
· Adapt to various roles and responsibilities and work flexibility in climates of ambiguity and changing priorities
· Demonstrate leadership skills, integrity, ethical behavior, and social responsibility while collaborating to achieve common goals
· Demonstrate initiative and self-direction through high achievement and lifelong learning while exploring the ways individual talents and skills can be used for productive outcomes in personal and professional life
Demonstrate productivity and accountability by meeting high expectations
Team building must be a component of every teacher’s curriculum because learning can only begin when students feel secure with those who share their learning space.
We are a team where everyone plays. A huge amount of music classroom trust is built on this concept.
Teach them the skills of cooperative and collaborative learning because learning is social.
Two words…Band Camp.
Introduce your students to their global peers and provide them an opportunity to collaborate.
Find and connect with learners around the world. First, make it personal and have students connect individually. Then, plan collaborative class projects. If our students do not learn to collaborate and cooperate with their global peers how will they be able to compete with them in the global workforce?
Music provides a rich source for integrated instruction to introduce a global world. The use of technology tools can connect learners and make learning collaborative and powerful.
Podcast Virtual Concert Example
21st Century Skills Technology Literacy
1. Demonstrate creative thinking, construct knowledge, and develop innovative products and processes using technology.
2. Use digital media and environments to communicate and work collaboratively, including at a distance, to support individual learning and contribute to the learning of others.
3. Apply digital tools to gather, evaluate, and use information.
4. Use critical thinking skills to plan and conduct research, manage projects, solve problems and make informed decisions using appropriate tools and resources.
So, What can you bring to the table? …In terms of 21st century learning? Examine what you do and how you do it. You may be closer and doing more than you thought.
I don’t have all the answers I need yet to be a 21st century skills expert, but hope a few questions have been posed that might motivate us to keep asking the right questions. Communication with administrators is key, being pro-active, not re-active.
Be aware of and ready to use information sources available to find out more about the Iowa Core Curriculum. http://www.iowa.gov/educate/
References
Framework for 21st century learning. (2007, July 23). [Brochure]. Tucsun, Arizona: Partnership for 21st Century Skills. Retrieved October 1, 2008, from http://www.21stcenturyskills.org
H, J. (2007, July 4). My virtual trip to NECC 2007. Message posted to http://teacherhacks.blogspot.com/2007/07/my-virtual-trip-to-necc-2007-part-2.html
Sawchuk, S. (2009, January 7). '21st-Century Skills' Focus Shifts W.Va. Teachers' Role. Education Week, 28(16), 1,12-13. Retrieved January 8, 2009, from Edweek.org Web site: http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2009/01/07/16skills_ep.h28.html
School Leader Update. (n.d.). Iowa Department of Education - School Leader Update [newsletter]. Retrieved January 10, 2009, from Department of Education Web site: http://www.iowa.gov/educate/