21st Century Skills

Talofa lava fellow MSLMEDers, I’m DIGITAL IMMIGRANT Larry. I have been in the teaching field ever since 9/11/01 and enjoying every bit of it. To be honest, I am totally amazed at how different students are today compared to when I was in school in the 80’s and 90’s. My school days were very traditional, TEACHER SPEAKS STUDENTS LISTEN, but now all that has changed.

It is why I now firmly believe that we must leave our past as a legacy and move on to trends to which our students are more comfortable with. STUDENTS OF THE 21^ST CENTURY SHOULD BE GUIDED BY 21^ST CENTURY TEACHERS & STRATEGIES. I am a total believer of Prensky’s Digital Natives and Immigrants article and a fan of Partnership for 21^st century skills. It represents what I TRY as a teacher to instill in my students every time they are with me. I emphasize with my students how leadership is vital, open communication, all-out creativity, being aware of issues that impact their lives (global awareness), effective decision making ability, solving problems in a positive manner, collaboration & teamwork and most importantly the use of TECHNOLOGY. TECHNOLOGY is the way of life today and education shouldn’t be any different. REALITY IS THE REAL THING WHEN REAL PEOPLE CHOOSE TO REALLY ACCEPT REALITY. The articles not only opens an educator’s eyes to reality, but it also stands to serve as sign informing to move in the right direction for the benefit of our students. To sum it up, I’ll leave you with my perspective of teacher, “DON’T JUST PREP YOUR STUDENTS FOR THE BIG TEST but PREPARE YOUR STUDENTS FOR REAL LIFE”.