Reflection Post

This book gave a thorough explanation of 21st century learning skills. It helped me to move from virtually no understanding of the topic to knowing the basic ideas which encompass it. It does lead me to reflect on my teaching strategies and evaluate them in light of this new knowledge. I am challenged to update lessons to incorporate more technology. I would have liked to have seen and read more applications of the 21st century learning skills for younger learners-modeling for elementary lessons which incorporate the skills. The book has given me a much broader perspective to evaluate resources and curriculum materials for my content areas as well. Figure 9.1 (Trilling & Fadel, 2009) really gets to the heart of why we teach and the purpose of 21st century learning skills. It all comes back to a quality of life. Teaching young people how to think critically, solve problems, collaborate and communicate will improve not only their quality of life but the lives of many others. It is a call to our profession to develop in our students a desire to be life-long learners who are passionate about making the world a better place for everyone.