21 Century Skills

I would like to share with you some of the very interesting ideas I learned in one of yesterdays workshops at BLC09. What skills do students need to have in the 21 century? This was the question asked and discussed in this session. A hard question to answer...not really. Teachers and educators in general know what skill sets students need to be equipped with for the 21 century.
The issue is what are schools doing to accomplish this mission. I personally believe that the focus of the schools get to shift to teaching content and preparing students to pass standardized exams. It was interesting to observe the presenter presenting the issue of teaching the 21 century skills in every day lessons. Teachers need to embed these skills (such as perseverance, awareness, courage and adaptability) in their lessons. Recent surveys show that 21 century employers are seeking candidates with these characters. Students need to understand and know what it takes to become a hard worker or problem solver. To equip students for the new demands of the workforce in the 21 century, it is essential to establish strategies in schools that instill these skills in each one of them.