How do we cultivate 21st century literacy in the classroom?

As educators, we can make the goals of 21^st century learning attainable to our students by encouraging 4 important ideas: 

The 4 C’s of 21^st Century Learning

Communication- We encourage our students to communicate effectively within different platforms. Our students can address their thoughts and opinions with distinct and specific evidence and reasoning. They are encouraged to extend their modes of communication by choose effective tools based on their audience and content. Different forms of classroom management can help students develop these skills. Morning meeting gives students a chance to practice discussion skills with their peers that can be transferred to discussions using various technology platforms. These discussion cans bring students out of the classroom, working with other learners around the world to exchange and build new knowledge.

Collaboration- Students use their strong communication skills to work in various types and sizes of student work groups. Using questioning skills, students develop strong understanding of the opinions of their peers. They are able to combine knowledge to arrive at the most comprehensive and detailed answer or solution. In addition to collaborating with groups in the classroom, this learning models allows for collaboration with other institutions to solve real problems. Perhaps students engage in projects in their communities to collect data and suggest solutions. This is influenced by technology, where students can complete extensive research and creatively report their findings as members of their community projects.

Watch! 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aWFE1YLk0TA

Critical Thinking- According to Bloom’s Taxonomy of higher order thinking skills, critical thinking is locked within the top of the pyramid of skills, encompassing evaluation, synthesis, and analysis. By modeling, we help our students achieve these thinking skills. Within technology, students must collect data and make decisions as to whether the information is accurate and effective. They pull together this data from various sources and make conclusions based on this information.

Creativity- Creativity falls at the highest level of Bloom’s Taxonomy. Here, students are required to pull together their knowledge in order to create a new resource. With 21^st century technology, the possibilities for creation are endless. This element also encompasses collaboration, as students learn to work together, pulling knowledge together to create and report new ideas