Nunchuck Skills, Bow Hunting Skills, Computer Hacking Skills....

This week we have been asked to reflect on whether students need both '20th Century' and 21st Century' skills. To cut a long story short my answer is...yes! As a NE/Year 1 teacher my job involves helping students to acquire '20th Century skills' so they have a solid foundation upon which they can build their 21st century skills. I set up opportunities for my students to develop their communication, collaboration and problem solving skills from the get go but without the ability to write, read or perform basic mathematical calculations it would be difficult for my students to fully become '21st Century Learners. Initially a large amount of teacher direction is required to scaffold them towards understanding the basics of learning.The exciting part of my job is gradually removing these scaffolds and guiding the students towards using their newly acquired tools to take their learning 'wider' and explore the world around them using 21st century skills.