This section dealt with ways we need to retool our education system. I do believe almost everyone feels we need to make changes in the way we teach and to teach to what our students are currently learning with. Early on in the unit the authors stated we need to learn from each other's experiences, both (positive and negative) as new approaches and processes are being tried. Students, parents, teachers,administrators, government officials,community members need to be focused on the same 21st century skills. These groups of people need to be led by school leaders with a vision toward the future. There were several areas address to help schools get to the 21st learning environment.
There was a quote in the assessment topic of the section. "We need better summative tests and formative evaluations that measure a combination of content knowledge, basic skills, higher-order thinking skills, deeper comprehension and understanding,applied knowledge, and 21st century skills performance". I thought to myself it would an ideal assessment process if and when it will be accomplished. There is a need for better tests to measure student skills in what will make them successful in the future.
The section went on to cover curriculum and instruction, staff development,learning environments,technology infrastructure,and learning communities and leadership. I felt the authors did an excellent job in laying out what needs to be done to move forward with 21st century skills.
In the restructing of our schools, I appreciated the comments that we need to make small, achievable steps as well as large leaps so that we can calculate what is working along the way. With the common goals that seem to have emerged, it was again emphasized that you can’t depend on one area to make the changes, it has to come from all the support groups and environments.
ReplyDeleteThere was a nice layout of what needs to be done and if we follow some of these suggestions, the 50/50 formula of traditional learning/21st century skill learning can hopefully be accomplished.
The 50/50 formula for traditional learning and 21st century learning stood out to me, as well. I also believe that the support needs to come from all groups working together.
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