The term 21^st century skills refers to a broad set of knowledge, skills, work habits, and character traits that are believed to be critically important to success in today’s world, particularly in collegiate programs and contemporary careers and workplaces. Generally speaking, 21^st century skills can be applied in all academic subject areas, and in all educational, career, and civic settings throughout a student’s life.

COLLABORATION

- It is critical that students collaborate with each other, especially in History classes. I feel it is so important that students exchange ideas, opinions, and knowledge learned with their peers in order to reaffirm their own understandings but also share them with their classmates. In my class, we often work collaboratively in Google Slides with each group working on a particular slide in the slide deck. Below is an example from our unit on WWI. You will notice that each group member is designated a role and imbedded on their slide is a video on their topic as well as a link to readings to help them answer the questions.

COMMUNICATION

As an educator, effective communication is vital to student success. My goal is to always make the learning expectations as clear as possible to my students so that they know exactly what is expected of them so that they have the best chance to succeed in my class. To do this, I provide students with access to rubrics, examples of exemplary work, and I give my students a chance to reflect after each unit and tell me where they succeeded, where they struggles, as well as the grade they think that they deserve.

CREATIVITY

A stagnant, traditional, and non innovative History teacher can make the subject dry and sometimes unbearable. In order to not become this teacher, I am going to give my students creative freedom in many of their assignments. This means showing their knowledge in non-traditional means like creating podcasts, writing letters, or creating an imaginary Instagram profile.

Below are a few examples of the different assignments and projects that students have been working on during the course of my student teaching semester.

Information, Media, Technology skills

I believe that teachers ought to embrace technology and use it as a tool to further support learning in our students. This means using information not just in textbooks but also utilizing the vast academic networks at our disposal in the 21st century. Versing students on identifying reliable online sources and using technology to their advantage will prove very helpful on their academic journey.