Are you ready for some.........?

Do educators ever feel prepared for the 21^st century?  Can you ever feel prepared for something which changes in a moment’s notice?  To continue the sports them from my last blog, it is like preparing for a football game all week and having a different opponent show up on Sunday.  The constant additions and changes to technology require you to keep an open mind and prepare you to be a lifelong learner.  I feel I am prepared because of the school I work in.  Being in a technical school allows us to get new technologies right away and make changes on the fly.  The challenge with this is it is hard to become a master at one because of the amount that comes out at a given time.  You truly have to prepare for one opponent knowing in the back of your mind another one will be there when it comes time to play the game.  Do you ever feel prepared?  Can you ever feel prepared?

Our students leave our school with the tools to be 21^st century learners.  They are equipped with problem solving skills and ability to communicate when they leave.  The students are more adaptable at times than adults in the sense they can change quicker.  Students are more willing to go out on the ledge and explore.  They are exposed to many different forms of technology at our school.  These include: email, moodle, blogs, and various websites for educational achievement.    However, are all students exposed in the same way?  The answer, sadly, is no.  Some of the students do not have access to the technology others do.  They do not have a computer at home, or a Smartphone.  They may not even have a cell phone.  Sometimes, we do not even have the resources to expose them to everything because of lack of money and the most precious commodity…..time.  Overall though, we prepare our students for the 21^st century and give them more opportunities than they could get themselves.  We put them in the stadium and on the field. 

I feel strong in the area I can adapt with change and have a willingness to learn new material.  My biggest challenge is having the time to learn and to develop all of my technological skills.  The time to master something before new technology comes along.  The 21^st century skills require time to develop skills to prepare for jobs that are not even created yet.  We need to not only get into the stadium, be on the field, grab the ball, begin running with it, but also cross the goal line and kick the extra point.  Then we have to do it again for something different and not even know what we are getting into.  Can we win the game?  I believe with the proper commitment, we can get ahead of the technological age and hold the trophy high!