Like most professions, the field of education is littered with acronyms and jargon which I refer to as edu-babble. It’s gotten so bad that we now play a game at school conferences or meetings called Babble Bingo. Every overused term, acronym, or phrase we know of from our profession is put on a bingo card. The first one to fill their card before the speaker finishes is the winner. Truth be told I’m sure the teachers do this during my staff meetings too!
One label finding its way onto the bingo card is 21st Century. Many schools are now challenged with how to implement a 21st Century curriculum, or transform their current school into a 21st Century school in order to provide a 21st Century education for the 21st Century labor force. It makes you wonder if educators of the 19th century felt as compelled to transform their schools and prepare students for the 20th century as we are with the transformation to 21st Century Schools.
Our new reality is now staring directly at us. By “our” I mean the communities of Shell Rock and Waverly, community leaders, parents, principals, teachers and students. In August of 2011 we will be entering a state-of-the art middle school facility. Our planning language already has us slapping the 21st century label on everything from curriculum and instructional practices to a set of well defined personal skills and of course school lunch hot dogs! I’m not actually sure what a 21st century school lunch hot dog is, but it has to be awesome, right?
In the book 21st Century Skills- Rethinking How Students Learn (Learning Tree, 2010) Ken Kay, President for Partnership of 21st Century Skills suggests several skills that “definitely break new ground” in education. These new skills include creativity and innovation, flexibility and adaptability, and leadership and cross-cultural skills for all students. A pretty informed observation on my part would allow me to say that isolated acts of these skills have been and still do take place in our schools today with some degree of frequency. We are beginning to see a more concerted effort among all educators and leaders who recognize the fact that the 21st century workforce is no longer built on the industrial model most of us knew and experienced. We are hearing loud and clear from all facets of business and industry that what they need are employees who are not only skilled and knowledgeable, but are also collaborative, innovative, flexible, creative and adaptable. As Kay mentions in his foreward, a manager at Apple once told him, “Any employee who needs to be managed is no longer employable.” If we take, at face value, that this perspective is indicative of what most employers are now looking for from their work force, then schools will have to change. A teacher-led model of instruction cannot be the staple practice in any classroom, schools cannot be managed by administrators from the top down and opportunities for teachers and administrators to collaborate to improve student learning must be an adopted best practice.
A rare opportunity is coming our way with the construction of the new middle school. We have a responsibility to merge a world class educational facility with 21st century teaching and learning experiences for all. If we merely supplant what we are doing and have done for the past 150 years, we’ll have accomplished nothing more than simply creating a “really cool school” in which to serve our 20th century hot dogs. Every decision we make now, and plans we lay for next August, must be done through a lens that will better prepare students in assuming their role within our communities, the jobs they will be asked to fill and their place in a global society.
To learn more about this topic go to http://www.p21.org/ for more information.
