21st C. Skills

Chapter 6

I never realized how many college students dropped out of their program. In fact, even as I struggle to complete my own education, the rate of college drop outs is something I hardly even considered. This article really reminded me of my own struggles with completing a college education and the reality that as economic struggles become more widespread, less and less people are able to afford such “luxuries” as an education. I can understand the anxiety over the idea of debt just as much as the next person. What I cannot understand is how a person can feel as though they are living up to their fullest potential when they abandon a task or situation. I get cold feet and doubt my ability and want to flee too, but I could never live with myself if I did. I thank my educators in the past for this drive; although it takes me sometimes too long to complete a simple task, I am able to complete it because I was taught intrinsic motivation and learned how rewarding and self satisfying it can be to work hard and see your own success. I want to bring this to my high school students so that they are encouraged to attend, and complete, their college education. Even in a work environment, learning intrinsic motivation may be difficult, especially if a person has a job that does not challenge them. So, like my teachers did for me, and turned my life around, I would like to inspire my students – help them to see their self worth by proper encouragement; allowing them to discover problems on their own and guide them in solving them; helping them uncover reliable information and resources; showing them the reality of the college education life so they are not put off by the looming cloud of debt; help them realize that the most challenging tasks are the most rewarding, and that completing an education is worth their time and is reflective of their self worth. Education is not a privilege, it is a life investment.

So, what 21^st Century English skills does this population need to succeed and thrive in America?

1. Computer skills

2. Global awareness

3. Intrinsic motivation

4. Help them see all their realistic opportunity

5. Show them/ Teach them how to seek out resources. They may not be readily available, and will have to have the skill to seek them and know where to start

6. Problem solving

7. Critical thinking

8. Move them past the mindset that they cannot afford college/demographic issues

Revising the School System Ideas:

As we begin to incorporate uses of technology into the classroom, and have students use their cell phones to respond to teacher “tweets” and posts, we need to remember that while many of our students have access to such things, some do not. There still may be one student who is without a Smartphone, unable to participate in the classroom activity because of this, and is too embarrassed to say so. Similarly, while it seems second nature to assume everyone has their own laptop or home computer, not every student does. As educators, we need to be ready to incorporate technology in our classroom, but also be prepared to walk into a class or a district whose demographic is wide spread or on the end of the spectrum where such luxuries are still not every day.

Also, we have to reconsider what information we expect students to know vs what we expect them to have access to. Because so many of us have immediate web searches at our fingertips, is it necessary to have students learn by rote memorization of lists of dates, times and places? We need to ask ourselves, what skill are we actually expecting them to learn by memorizing this list of rivers? We need to determine if the skill is something that can be taught in a better way, in a more critical thinking way. While it may be necessary for students to know dates, places, and names in some situations, in others it may not be and we ought to look for ways to teach the skill we are actually trying to model for them. Is it self-disciplinary? Is it researching and discovery? Learning to identify useful information from “garbage”?