Vision

Education in the 21
st
century should focus on equipping the students with the skills to be
productive and contributing members in this global society. According to the National Education
Association, if todays students want to compete in this global society, however, they must also
be proficient communicators, creators, critical thinkers, and collaborators (NEA, Preparing 21
st

Century Students for a Global Society, ). Just teaching the content is not enough. Educators must
equip our students with critical thinking and problem solving skills to meet the challenges of the
workforce. The approach to achieving these goals should be an integrated, project based, and
technologically enhanced curriculum offering the experiences necessary.
As the Common Core Standards emphasize collaboration, analysis, evaluation, and
clarification of information, students will be challenged to think critically and solve problems.
Technology should be the link in creating an engaging and personalized setting to meet the needs
of our diverse populations. My plan is to introduce Bring Your Own Device into our school so
that equitable access shall be had for all. Students can utilize their devices or resources available
in school. Teachers will need to facilitate the learning by providing scenarios where the students
problem solve and create solutions in order to ascertain the content. Students can complete
webquests and simulations in order to model behaviors that are used in real world problem
solving. Using digital tools and resources will enable students to locate the material necessary to
design these results. It will also provide the opportunity to communicate and collaborate locally
as well as globally to promote diversity, cultural understanding, and global awareness (ISTE-C
5c). Students can produce their work on blogs and wikis in order to receive feedback from peers
and experts. As our society depends on technology more and more, the goal of education should
be to make certain that the students are ready to perform in this global society. Students cannot
just know information, but they need to become innovative in solving real world concerns
outside the school setting.
International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE). (2014). ISTE Standards
Coaches. Retrieved from https://www.iste.org/standards/standards-for-coaches
National Education Association (NEA). (2010). Preparing 21st Century students for a global
society: An educators guide to the four Cs. Retrieved from http://www.nea.org/assets/docs/A-
Guide-to-Four-Cs.pdf