21st Century Skills

Back when I was going through school the main focus for going to school was the core subject.  We used textbooks, worksheets, glue, paper, and crayons and focused on learning reading, math, science, and social studies within the confines of these materials available.  Over the years, the culture and focus of society has changed.  We have become a society that has gone from hands on materials and researches that we have in our possession to a society that is dependent on the technology of computers and the Internet.   There are resources that people have access to on the Internet that allows them to do research and communicate with other people.  There are technological programs that allow people to create things like movies, slide shows, power points, and other operations to demonstrate what they want to communicate.  So past are the days where students are taught by making things with there hands and materials in their possession to learn core subjects.  21st Century Skills are these technological programs that aide students in learning the core curriculum but it also goes beyond that to teaching them critical thinking and problem solving skills.  There creativity, communication, and collaboration skills need to be developed as well and this is done through the use of computer programs and the Internet. 

I feel that these skills do need to be addressed.  The age that children are growing up in now is saturated with the use of computers.  Pretty much everything that you do is connected through some type of computer program.  It is important that students be taught computer skills, Internet skills, communication skills, collaborating skills through the use of the available computer programs that are available because that is the world they will be living in and having to function in when they grow up, both at home and at work.

They should be addressed in the classroom by giving the students as many opportunities to learn and put these skills into practice as possible.  They should be encouraged to express their creativity and to explore and use these skills without fear of failure.  They may not understand everything at once but with practice they will learn to use it.  They need this encouragement so they will not be like me and be afraid of technology.  They need to be taught to embrace it and not be afraid to try new things because technology changes quickly and they will need to feel confident in trying the new things so they can keep up with it.  They will be using this technology their whole lives so they need to not be afraid of it they are going to function in the world they will be living.