21st Century Skills: The Challenge Ahead

The following three quotes are pulled from the article 21st Century Skills: The Challenge Ahead on Educational Leadership. I do feel that 21st century learning is much more difficult than anything we have come across before. I definitely think that some of the skills required for 21st century learning are pulled from the past, but now they are expanded upon and studied more thoroughly. The common standards that most teachers, students, and parents/guardians are used to are not enough anymore, and must be broadened. Teachers need to be aware of the 21st century learning that is taking over, and I think it will be especially challenging for the older teachers to understand how to adapt to the new times.

• "Another curricular challenge is that we don't yet know how to teach self-direction, collaboration, creativity, and innovation the way we know how to teach long division. The plan of 21st century skills proponents seems to be to give students more experiences that will presumably develop these skills—for example, having them work in groups."
• "These methods also demand that teachers be knowledgeable about a broad range of topics and are prepared to make in-the-moment decisions as the lesson plan progresses. Anyone who has watched a highly effective teacher lead a class by simultaneously engaging with content, classroom management, and the ongoing monitoring of student progress knows how intense and demanding this work is. It's a constant juggling act that involves keeping many balls in the air."
• "Curriculum, teacher expertise, and assessment have all been weak links in past education reform efforts—a fact that should sober today's skills proponents as they survey the task of dramatically improving all three. Efforts to create more formalized common standards would help address some of the challenges by focusing efforts in a common direction. But common standards will not, by themselves, be enough."