Week 2 Reflection 21st Century Skills / KC in leading / Reflective Practice and Key competencies in Leadership

The focus this week was on: 
21st Century Skills / KC in leading
What skills do our 21st century learners need to thriveand how does leadership create the conditions to develop these

• Collaboration

• Knowledge construction

• Self-regulation

• The Use of ICT for learning

• Skilled Communication

• Real-world problem-solving and innovation 

We compared the current key competencies with the 21st century skills. The article Microsoft Partners in Learning ITL research was very helpful with the six rubrics of 21st century learning. We then participated in a practical activity to make a video using the 21st century skills and the Three act structure to develop our story into a narrative. We chose to rewrite a Shakespeare play for a teenage audience to video. We used Romeo and Juliet to get a message across to our teenage audience that all is not lost, there is always someone there to help and suicide is not always the option in difficult times.  Our video is below:

Reflective Practice and Key competencies in Leadership

Towards Reconceptualising Leadership - The Implication of the Revised NZC for School Leaders - Wayne Freeth U of C

I found this an interesting article as it helped to reinforce the shift of 'Knowledge as a noun' to 'Knowledge as a verb' Key phrases kept reinforcing for me that teacher agency and shared decision making, teamwork and community building are very important for us as professionals to keep to the forefront in our work. This article gave me a perspective that there are times that school leaders feel vulnerable at leading. It is often difficult to 'walk the talk' and there is a need for collective ownership, shared visions with school processes. This often requires a shift of power relations and leadership styles.

What 60 Schools can tell us about teaching in 21st century - Grant LichtmanPreparing our students for their future, not our past.

I liked Dewey's quote: "If we teach today as we taught yesterday we rob children of tomorrow."

I've taken out of this week that we as teachers and leaders not only need to walk the talk to students but to other colleagues and lead by example as we move towards intrinsically incorporating 21st century skills into our daily lives to encouraging those we teach and work with to do the same.