Teachers Are Learners, Too

In a February 14 entry at Will Richardson’s blog (Weblogg-ed) I noticed with much interest the following:

“Our kids’ futures will require them to be:

• Networked–They’ll need an “outboard brain.”
• More collaborative–They are going to need to work closely with people to co-create information.
• More globally aware–Those collaborators may be anywhere in the world.
• Less dependent on paper–Right now, we are still paper training our kids.
• More active–In just about every sense of the word. Physically. Socially. Politically.
• Fluent in creating and consuming hypertext–Basic reading and writing skills will not suffice.
• More connected–To their communities, to their environments, to the world.
• Editors of information–Something we should have been teaching them all along but is even more important now.

There’s more, obviously. But I’m curious. What would you add? Or what would you push back against?”

Based on the other reading and listening I am doing, I believe Will is on target.  My question:  How are we in education doing at preparing our students for this future?

One of the advantages of using a ‘gathering’ service such as Google Reader, is that we can “automatically” receive new/current postings from a variety of authors.  One such author, David Warlick, recently posted “A Path to Becoming a Literate Educator“.  I invite you to read and cosider his 12 steps for success as a 21st-Century educator.

The video linked here may stir some argument.  Be that as it may, but the creativity issue is one worth significant consideration.   Those attuned to the requirements for 21st century success list creativity amont the top five of qualities needed for our current students to succeed in life after school.  Wouldn’t it seem reasonable for us to help them practice their creativity now?