I recently read an article in Time about what students need in the 21st century. Recommendations about the skills and disciplines needed included technology and exposure to world cultures. The term “portable skills” was a new term to me. Portable skills are critical think, making connections, and the ability to continuously learn. The article also discussed the importance of teaching students how to assess the accuracy of information read on websites. Did you know that in a recent study of 6,200 high school seniors and college freshman only 50 percent could accurately judge the quality of content on websites?
I would be very interested in hearing from you what you think you need to be well educated in the 21st century. I would also like to hear how you learn when you are away from school. Do you see similarities or differences between HOW you learn at school and away from school?

When I was in Atlanta this past weekend, I took a trip to my favorite bookstore and spent several hours looking over the shelves at the books.  I came across a book whose title, Wikinomics: How Mass Collaboration Changes Everything, intrigued me.  I haven’t finished it yet, but it addresses the impact of the many tools available today for collaboration on leadership, businesses, research, and life in general.  The authors stress that the world is becoming a place where only the connected will survive.  They also say, “We must collaborate or perish-across borders, cultures, disciplines, and firms and increasingly with masses of people at one time.”  They talk about the use of Web 2.0 as being the “Wisdom of Crowds.”  I love that term and am excited about all it implies.  Even though I grew up with computers in my home and in my classrooms and feel pretty confident that I can do about anything with a computer, I am learning terms that I have never heard of by reading the book–peering, tagging, “new public squares,” and blogosphere.  

In talking with students, it is obvious that they are more comfortable with these concepts than we realize, but as a school and as a system, we are stretching ourselves so we can meet the changing needs of our students.  We have time built into our schedule for classroom teachers to collaborate with each other daily to design lessons for students.  We have SharePoint which allows students to collaborate via discussion boards in a safe environment.  We are developing the Middle School Resource Room wiki so our teachers can collaborate with others world-wide to improve what we are doing with students. We have many conversations brainstorming ways to integrate technology more fully into our classrooms.  Professional learning opportunities on technology integration are provided regularly.  I read the blogs of other principals to find out things they are doing with their students that we might also do or to find out what other schools are struggling with.  We then have ongoing discussions via our blogs. 

I have to say that I am very proud of our teachers at HTMS who are stretching themselves in the area of technology.  Many face the challenge of not only integrating technology into their classrooms but also learning the technology themselves.