A-Z BLOG FOR THE 21ST CENTURY EDUCATOR

“The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those
who cannot read and write, but those who cannot
learn, unlearn and relearn." 

                                  - Alvin Toffler -

From A-Z, Helping Teachers Work Smarter not Harder in the 21st Century Classroom, is a wonderful blog  created by Ann Zimmer, co-Director of the Center for 21st Century Classrooms.

The blog provides a wealth of materials, media and links, that are invaluable for educators who are challenged by the educational systems and general state of learning in the new century.  This website provides great suggestions and discussion points that will help educators to understand the basis for changing the paradigms in our classrooms as we prepare students for a world that is no longer predicatable and shrinks with each new technological shift. 

I truly believe that Ms. Zimmer has spent time in my classroom as  the video piece she created called "The Challenge", quotes Alvin Toffler and the 21st Century definition of illiterate, brings in pieces from "Shift Happens" on the job market and   ties in many aspects of the Three C's, communication, critical thinking and collaboration. 

The Challenge
from the A-Z Blog



SHIFT HAPPENS

The video Shift Happens, created by Karl Fisch, and modified by Scott McLeod; Globalization and The Information Age is a excellent introduction to the changing paradigms of today's world. 

There is a great deal of information about population dyanamics, technological advancement and the changes in communication that our students currently face and continue to deal with in the future.  The most telling stat that I tend to direct students attention to is the number of job changes that most people will go through as technology and the job market will be in a constant state of flux well into the future.  The ability to learn, unlearn and relearn will be the most valuable skill students will need to develop as they will be in a constant state of adjustment as jobs change, are replaced by technological advances and allocated throughout a global economy.

It is also important for educators to understand that we are preparing students for a world that we cannot predict and  for jobs and technologies that have not yet been invented.  Therefore, the one skill we can prepare them with, is the ability to LEARN.

Shift Happens is great conversation starter. Some of the questions I use based upon the students I am working with include:

• What are your initial reactions to what you saw in the presentation?
• How do you see these changes is your own lives? personally? as a student?
• What are the most important skills students will need to move into this type of future?
• How does this change the way schools should be doing things? teachers? students?
• How can educators prepare you for a future that we can not predict?
• What support mechanisms will you need as you move forward?
• Do these concepts create fears, worries, apprehensions for you? Why?
• What does this type of change mean for us socially? 
• Does this future create an impersonal world?
• How will mankind maintain the speed of life that is created, almost demanded with this type of technology?
• How will this type of technology affect adaptations in our evolutionary progress as humans?
• What further developments lie on the horizon?
• Is there anything left to invent?

Fo more information on Shift Happens go to Change Agency.