I love images. I chose this fabulous graphic from the online collection Library of Congress Prints and Photographs to shape the theme of my presentation, What IS 21st Century Teaching and Learning? Does it seem odd to select an image from 1905 to make a 21st century point? Bear with me, this historic image comm
unicates an important message. Please understand, I am driven to help teachers know and be able to "lead the learning" of 21st Century skills in our public schools. While I admire the Framework for 21st Century Skills, published by the Partnership for 21st Century Skills, and I genuinely appreciate the enGauge 21st Century Skills model, I know teachers need to move beyond models to "cut right to the chase." They need a clear picture of today's challenge. Thus the 1905 image and my simplified response to a loaded question: What IS 21st Century Teaching and Learning?Take a close look at the picture the Library of Congress labeled "A modern training school." Girls are sewing and cooking. Boys are woodworking. The students are using the TOOLS of the era to prepare for the work of the era. The teachers are working beside their students, coaching and mentoring them as they refine skills that transfer beyond the schoolhouse to life in the real world. Zoom in. Look a bit closer. The TOOLS include needles, knives, chisels, hammers, picks, heat, ovens. The tools of the age are potentially dangerous - but they aren't blocked from the school. Teachers are teaching students to use the tools of the age - and use them safely.
One more picture to make this post less daunting. This image from Library of Congress Prints and Photographs is entitled 1910 -1930 Infantile speech defects corrected
by games. This class is playing "train," making "ch" sound. What a great example! The students are learning the CONTENT of the era using the highly relevant CONTEXT of the era. At the beginning of the 19th century, trains were a phenomenon. The railroads were slowly joining rivers, canals, coaches and carriages in transporting people and goods across the country. The "ch-choo" train was serious pop culture in 1919 and students must have engaged in learning about them. The "ch-choo" that was so relevant and popular in that era seems remote and out of place in the schools of 2008. Yet, we persist in "ch-chooing" when we could be "cha-chinging" the critically important 21st Century lessons of Financial Literacy. Our school train just hasn't engaged the context of the 21st Century.Let me wrap this up. What IS 21st Century Teaching and Learning? In very simplistic terms:
1. Students use the TOOLS of the era to prepare for life and work in the era.
2. Students learn the CONTENT of the era in the fascinating CONTEXT of the era.
3. Teachers COACH and mentor students who refine skills that matter and transfer to life in the real world.
1.)Tools. 2.) Content. 3.) Context. 4.) Coach. Not so very new or different. We just need to bump the focus of all four up a mere one hundred years - and we're here - in the 21st Century!
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Image Source: Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA
Digital ID: cph 3a15671
Digital ID: det 4a27732
RIGHTS INFORMATION: No known restrictions on publication.
