21st Century Skills Website Review

The 21st Century Skills is a national organization that advocates students in K-12 classrooms to become prepared for the workforce and community they will be apart of. They have developed a framework for students that includes: Life and Career Skills, Learning and Innovation, and Information, Media and Technology Skills. The organization is sharing the important message that the traditional 3 R's that students learn in school will not be enough for them to be successful they must also know the 3 C's: critical thinking and problem solving, communication, collaboration, and creativity and innovation. These frameworks are integrated along with the school's core subjects already in place. The purpose is to get students ready for the 21st century world they will work in and become members of society. The organization is in partnership with many businesses, government agencies, school districts and educational companies. They currently have fourteen U.S. states that are members with the organization, sadly California is not yet one of them. I am surprised that I never heard of this organization before, yet so much has been published about this topic and organization. Many school administrations, educational magazines, journals, and even blogs have been discussing how to prepare our students for the workforce and community they will be apart of in the 21st century. Just think of all the problems and challenges these children will have to work with even more than we currently are dealing with; pollution, global warming, technology advances, and new state and U.S. policies. Many companies are updating the way they get work done and integrating technology into their businesses. Will our students be prepared to use computers every day to get their job done, will they be able to use social network media such as Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter to post job applications and promote their company?

I was surprised at how popular this topic of 21st century readiness is and how much work this organization has done creating their framework and promoting their cause. I was also surprised that the ever-changing and progressing state of California is not a member of this organization. For my students, I know I will have to prepare them with a focus on the 3 C's while integrating real life situations and problems. Integrating technology into the classroom and assignments will also help prepare them for the changes that will be taking place in the workforce.