Teaching 21st Century Skills with Intention

The world of teaching has changed drastically since I made my teaching debut almost two decades ago. It seems to me, more change has taken place in the last five years than in the last fifty, or the last one hundred and fifty for that matter. Of course, this is all thanks to our new technologically-dependent existence. With technology morphing how we do everything, we, the consumers, must also morph how we do things in order to keep pace. Educators are beginning to realize that we need to change the way we teach in order to meet the needs of the world that awaits our fine young graduates.

Here's the deal: no longer are facts crucial. Once upon a time, they were, and the guy with the most facts won. Don't get me wrong, there is still a place for facts. I'm amazed as the next guy by that individual at the local pub quiz that correctly answers 97 out of 100 questions that were written by Mensa International members. However, if I need to know a fact nowadays, I can take my phone out of my pocket and ask Siri. Technology rocks.

Back in my day, my parent's day, my grandparent's day, teachers were the masters of knowledge. They stood before a captive audience and regurgitated the facts that were regurgitated to them when they were captive audience members. Students filled their brains with facts and content, showed how much they could remember on final exams, graduated with A's, got into universities, got degrees, then entered the real world where they applied about 5% of their $150,000 knowledge. They learned what they really needed to know on the job. 20th Century Schools were good at teaching the basics: reading, writing, and arithmetic. They taught us how to communicate both verbally and in written form. We learned how to format a paragraph and how to spell. We learned our multiplication tables and how to use the Dewey Decimal System. We learned a great deal. But the world has changed. No longer is it all about what we know but rather how and we come to know things.

The 21st Century graduate needs to be armed with a different skill set and I am on a mission to figure out how best to facilitate that.