21ST Century Skills

We recently had a presentation by the director of technology at Rio Schools.  His talk was very interesting and informative.  He talked to us about the importance of teaching our students to collaborate, and solve problems.  This is what he called teaching 21st Century skills.  I've heard this analogy before, but he went on to mention that we are preparing student for jobs that have yet been discovered.  He spoke about how textbooks are pretty much obsolete, and we should be preparing students for real world skills that they can carry for a life time.  As teachers we can teach these so called 21st Century skills by integrating technology into the classroom.

I think the notion of teaching children based on what kind of career or field is a good thing.  Yes, our children need basic math, reading, writing and socialization skills but in order to keep our children engaged we must teach them based on their interests.  Instead of us trying to perfect the 19th century educational model we need to teach students based on the skills necessary for success when they are adults.