So I received an email today from The Partnership for 21st Century Skills urging me to post my thoughts on a question from the White House: "What does a 21st century education mean to you?"
It's funny because I've been thinking about this very issue. As an Instructional Technology Specialist with City Schools of Decatur, it was my job to train and support teachers with the latest technology, so students would be exposed to using technology on a daily basis as tools of today. Much like a workshop class, where students would learn to use power tools to build or construct furniture. I did believe a 21st century classroom would have multiple desktops or laptops, and an interactive write board for students to use and build websites, webquests, create documents, etc. Students would use web 2.0 tools to collaborate with peers and possibly students of other countries. My vision was only the trough of water--there still needed to be a systematic approach to the "way we do school". A culture, a belief, and overall incentive for going to water to drink.
I now believe we will find our way to what a 21st century education means through IB, the International Baccalaureate umbrella. IB not only maintains we uphold our standards for content in the areas we teach, but it demands looking at the curriculum through the lens. The lenses are called the Areas of Interaction in the IB Middle Years Program, and they are Health and Social, Environmental, Community and Service, and Human Ingenuity. The student is not just looking at the life cycle in science from a textbook, but instead, reading articles about environmental problems around the globe as they relate to the life cycle.
It is the character building, collaborating with peers, and holistically thinking --Students working together at the real world, trying to solve problem with others. This is what a 21st century education is to me.
If all lessons fused together traditional content with these fundamental practices of then every individual student, and the student body as a population of people will begin sharing this world. Now, I do see more computer use and innovative projects utilizing web 2.0 tools. Only when students have a real thirst to drink, and only when teachers have a framework for justifying what "they really want to teach"---not teaching to the test. The teachers I work with really want to share with our young people. The pressure of standardized test has taken that joy away. Providing a framework for teachers, schools, and students to build character and work together. This is how we can and will discover a 21st century education.
