The articles, videos, and websites we studied this week were full of information about what is needed in our 21st century classrooms. The source that I felt was full of the most information about what a 21st century classroom really should be was the 21st Century Schools website. The author of this site suggests that it is not enough to simply implement new technological tools in the classroom. What is needed, rather, is a shift in our major goals in the classroom. The site lists the following skills as essential in for our students in the future:
Critical Thinking and Problem Solving
Collaboration and leading by influence
Agility and adaptability
Initiative and entrepreneurialism
Oral and written communication
Accessing and analyzing information
Curiosity and imagination (21st Century Schools 2010)
It's hard not to agree that these should be major focus areas in every classroom. One would hope that critical thinking and problem solving, and oral and written communication have always been at the forefront of every classroom, but some of these skills are more important today than ever in our society. Given the statistics we viewed in the "Did You Know" video in class (i.e. people entering the workforce today will have 10-14 jobs by the time they reach age 38), agility and adaptability will be more crucial today than ever before. By implementing new technological tools on a regular basis in the classroom, we will be teaching our students how to tackle new tasks and adapt to changes, and this is a skill that will prove useful both in and out of the classroom for the rest of their lives. The 21st century classroom is about more than just implementing new technologies; it's about giving our students the skills to survive and thrive in a world that is changing quickly and dramatically, and not waiting for anyone to catch up. We as educators need to recognize that "technologies are not an end in themselves. They're tools students use to create knowledge and to create personal and social change" (21st Century Schools 2010).
Although the 21st Century Schools website did a good job of explaining just what we should focus on in our classrooms in the future, it left me with a lot of questions, the biggest one being "how can I do this?" There are so many resources available, so much to choose from, where can I even begin as an educator? The goals are all well and good, but how exactly can we help our students develop these skills in an effective, engaging way? With all of the goals and ideas that the site gave me, I was still left feeling a little overwhelmed and I couldn't help but wonder if after all the years I've spent studying to become an educator I'm really prepared or equipped to do all that is necessary to enhance these skills in my students. This website calls for a complete overhaul of our educational system, but haven't we been trained for years in the old way of education? Hopefully, we will be able to adapt along with our students, and show them how we, too, can learn as we go and roll with the punches, but I can't help but feel a little apprehensive!
Thankfully, I came across "The Power of the Mash-Up" but Suzie Boss and Jane Krauss after I read through the 21st Century Schools website. Finally, here was an article that made some concrete suggestions for implementing technology in the classroom in new and exciting ways. I learned something important from Burg, who showed how "it wasn't the slick new technology that caught his attention, but rather how it would allow him to extend the reach of his proven teaching strategies" (Boss 14). This is how we should all approach technology in our classrooms. We shouldn't use tools just for the sake of having something technological in our classroom, but rather we should see how these tools can increase the effectiveness of what we already want to do. The important thing is knowing what it is we truly want to achieve in our classrooms, and "once you identify a function you need (such as Burg's need to make the literary landscape something students could 'see' to appreciate) you can find an assortment of tools to choose from -- with more arriving tomorrow -- to meet that function" (Boss 17). We don't have to completely overhaul the way we teach everything in the classroom in order to implement new technologies. In many cases, we can simply find ways to enhance what we know already works through technology. It might be a little more work, but it's not as daunting as it sounds, and it can be so much more fun and effective for our students!
If all of these articles and websites weren't enough to convince me of the importance of implementing technology in our classrooms, the article entitled "Social Justice: Choice or Necessity" definitely would have driven the point home for me. For years, many educators have stubbornly stuck by their belief that as long as their teaching methods are effective, they need not implement technological tools in their classrooms. What this article points out is that by not exposing our students to new technologies, we may be ultimately crippling them in the future. Swain and Edyburn state that "in 1992, the U.S. Department of Labor's SCANS report noted that at least 80% of all jobs in the next two decades would require workers to be technologically fluent" (15). In today's global, extremely competitive society, it is more important than ever to provide our students with every opportunity to gain an edge on the competition, and this means exposing them to and giving them the chance to become comfortable with new technological tools. Educators should have the right to decide how they teach their students, but as Swain and Edyburn state, "because the uses of instructional technologies in today's schools influence the opportunities fir future educational and work experiences, instructional technology use in the classroom is a matter of social justice" (18).
