One of the aspects of the Kiva article that particularly resonated with me was the question of appropriately using time in our classrooms with an already existing, mandated curriculum.

I'd like to think that a feature of a classroom in the 21st century, hopefully something I'm doing, is that time management and lesson planning allow for the inclusion of the skills we have been talking about. I think that the more comfortable I become with using all of these skills the more natural the planning process will be which will take the stress off of, "how do I do this?" ringing in my head.

The article we read explored the theme of 'changing the world.' For me, this is just a little bit too zealous. However, I do like to think that I am of the mindset of, "how can I impact my student's lives?" One of the ways I like to think I have an impact is through the creation of interesting lessons and discussions. Certainly, there are some days in school which will simply be rote memorization, we all know that, but there are plenty of opportunities to allow for the use of 21st. century skills. As an ELA teacher one thing I would like to bring to the classroom is the ability for my students to interact with student around the world. There are many avenues, including Skype, email, video mail, blogs, etc., which make this a possibility. At the same time, I like to remind the kids that a 'simple' letter is also still an effective tool of communication.

Many of the options we have as educators today are already things that students are comfortable with using. This, in theory, should make it a little easier for us to use the technology in our rooms.

Technology is for everyone...

This talk about pre-schoolers, and their comfort level with technology, really hits home for me. My 4 year old daughter is constantly asking to visit Disney, Nickelodeon and PBS websites. She is navigating the computer with an ever-increasing level of self-assurance and ease. I look at her and think to myself, "Wow, when I was that age turning my Speak and Spell on was quite a feat!" Though, I suppose that this is true of every generation as the availability of and accessibility to technology is always increasing.
I think it's also important to realize though that it's not ALWAYS just the younger generations that embrace technological advance. When my grandmother turned 80 she bought her first computer. Within months she transformed from an "internet know-nothing" to a whiz with the web.

A little more...

So, I haven't used this blog, for the most part. My plan is to try to be more proactive using the blog to detail what I'm experiencing as far as 21st Century Skills mean/look like to me.