“If our students are to survive, let alone thrive, in the 21st-century culture of technology-driven automation, abundance, and access to global labor markets, then independent thinking and its corollary, creative thinking, hold the highest currency” (Crockett, Jukes, & Churches, 2011, p 1). Teaching in today’s 21st century culture needs to be unlike any era before, and as teachers we need to embrace this fact and strive to teach our students how to be successful in this new society. “Today, it’s essential that all of our students have a wide range of skills beyond those that were needed in the 20th century, a range that includes the skills needed to function within a rapidly changing society” (Crockett, Jukes, & Churches, 2011, p 17). I teach Kindergarten in a title I school, for most of my students this is their first classroom experience. To me I feel as though unlearning and relearning are not as relevant in my classroom as learning is. Because this is their first time in a classroom the pressure to teach them how to learn and think is more crucial than ever before. In teaching them to learn more independently, think critically, creatively and problem solve it will help them to be able to thrive in this ever-changing culture we are in, and be able to unlearn and relearn in the long run. One of the biggest challenges I face in my classroom on accomplishing this goal the way I know my students need, is district expectations and assessments. There is so much pressure to perform well in short-term goals such as, assessments and standardized tests, that we lose sight of long-term goals, problem solving, creativity and other skills that are not being measured but are crucial for success in the 21st century. Because of this we begin teaching to the test rather than how to learn independently.
“Twenty-first-century learning will ultimately be learner-driven” (Rich, 2017). Students will benefit their entire lives being able to problem solve and think critically. Society is constantly changing and being able to adapt and learn with that change will help students to be successful in life. Teaching students in this way takes a great change from the traditional classroom but is crucial to help our students.
References
Crockett, L., Jukes, I., & Churches, A. (2011). Literacy is not enough: 21st-century fluencies for the digital age. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.
Rich, E. (2017). How Do You Define 21st-Century Learning? Retrieved November 04, 2017, from https://www.edweek.org/tsb/articles/2010/10/12/01panel.h04.html
