21st Century Outcomes: The Rainbow Analogy
Teaching for the future means that I must be prepared with new skills and techniques for students to be engaged. The learning methods of the past serve as excellent reminders of how school has changed, but unfortunately those methods are no longer valid, given the changing society and thus a new generation of smarter, more focused, and more technologically advanced students. In order for students to provide their best for the society in the future, they must be taught with ideas that promote and foster the skills and mindset they will need in order to be active participants and changers of their environment.
For me to better understand these 21st century outcomes, I created a rainbow analogy by looking at the picture below. The rainbow itself stems from the clouds at the base. Without the clouds, the rainbow would have no system of support and would not be able to be held up. On the other hand, the clouds can exist by themselves but would not be as beautiful or as noteworthy without the presence of the rainbow.
Now look at this picture of the 21st century outcomes below. Instead of having clouds, this "rainbow" is supported by standards, the curriculum, professional development, and learning environments. Stemming from these "clouds" are the student outcomes, or essentially the "rainbow" portion of this image. If the "clouds", or the support system is removed, then the outcomes will have no framework or means of being developed and expanded upon because there would be no way for them to thrive. This would result in no development of 21st century skills. Also, if the outcomes were removed from the picture, the support system (the "clouds") would be able to stand but would be working together and not creating an outcome, or would not be generating a purpose.
These 21st century skills, as depicted in the picture above, work together to create student outcomes and support systems by each contributing a small piece of information or a set of skills. The curriculum, the learning environments, the standards, and any professional developments are the basis on which these outcomes will thrive because together they allow these skills to grow. Each part, the clouds and the rainbows, work together to create the student outcomes--they are not the result of one influence over another. They work together, and when students are added into the scenario, can have a major impact on their lives and their futures in this fostering of 21st century skills and outcomes.
Thus, learning experiences must be based off of the support system for creating 21st century skills, and the events in the learning must include the student outcomes in order for the learning to be valuable and meaningful to this current generation. Omitting this step when creating an experience will still create a lesson, but one where the students will be not receiving as much support or as much knowledge as before. This is a vital step which leads to global competency
Thus, learning experiences must be based off of the support system for creating 21st century skills, and the events in the learning must include the student outcomes in order for the learning to be valuable and meaningful to this current generation. Omitting this step when creating an experience will still create a lesson, but one where the students will be not receiving as much support or as much knowledge as before. This is a vital step which leads to global competency
The 4 C's of Learning Innovation: Creativity, Collaboration, Communication and Critical Thinking
I strongly believe in these four criteria for learning innovation but not simply because of how they work together to help create 21st century skills. They teach students the vital skill to think on their own, instead of always relying on teachers to hand them information or knowledge. Each of these aspects makes use of group work, but is based off of independent learning as well because before group collaboration and communication can occur, students must be able to express themselves through critical thinking and creativity. Thus, while students are taught skills they need to succeed in the future they are also learning skills that will help them in their school careers, especially in forms of higher education such as college.
In addition to giving my personal interpretation and feedback for each aspect below, I also have included several links to articles, videos, or other resources I found during my PLN which relate back to each respective aspect. These links give me an insight as to how I can go about allowing each one into my classroom so that eventually, I will get into the habit of doing so and sometime in the future create a class which grows 21st century skills. They also serve as tips and guides that can be expanded upon for my own uses, so I believe they will continue to be useful in my journey to becoming a teacher.
In addition to giving my personal interpretation and feedback for each aspect below, I also have included several links to articles, videos, or other resources I found during my PLN which relate back to each respective aspect. These links give me an insight as to how I can go about allowing each one into my classroom so that eventually, I will get into the habit of doing so and sometime in the future create a class which grows 21st century skills. They also serve as tips and guides that can be expanded upon for my own uses, so I believe they will continue to be useful in my journey to becoming a teacher.
CommunicationCommunication and public speaking skills can never be developed too early. This is a big part of most workplaces because effective speaking skills will be required for most offices as well as jobs concerning the general public, making this a 21st century skill which is becoming increasingly more popular as time goes on. While this includes oral skills, being a good listener is also a vital aspect of communication. Students should be taught to value speech but also be attentive so to gain a purpose for listening as well as to engage in discourse if needed.
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Critical ThinkingHaving students be familiar with critical thinking and the need for problem solving can help them use reasoning to work through problems, even outside of the classroom. This idea of critical thinking also fits in with creativity because students must use their imaginations or use unconventional ways of thinking to solve some problems.
This above article discusses how group work should be added in classrooms to help with problem solving. I find this interesting because again, this is what these 21st century outcomes are working together to create. Educator are definitely in tune to this need of merging skills and abilities to create these outcomes.
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