Learning

Activities
to Develop 21 st

Century Skills
Intended Learning Outcomes

 Analyze learning plans in the context

of the 21st Century Skills
 In order to know how to teach the 21st
Century Skills that we want our students to
obtain mastery, we need to know what/who
they are.
. 
Apply the 21st century skills to students, the
elements of (The 4 C’s) - collaboration,
communication, critical thinking, and
creativity, via technological, hands on, and
real world applicable avenues for practice
and application.
 In teaching 21st Century skills we shape the future
not only in what we say, but how we say it. The
teachers are teaching the learners to learn to interact,
think, speak, and function - in an adult world, with
respect, most effectively.
 The elements of an effective lesson plan,
especially one that maximizes engagement,
should cover the basics of the 4 C’s.
 Elements of an Effective Lesson Plan
Open ended Aim questions,
guide students to new
information, offer means to
explore connection and
application of that new
information,
and exemplify comprehension
via a multitude of student
chosen activities.
Review and an introduction of new
information to your students can
A Do Now or Starter Activity, come in a brief mini lesson, and
gets them thinking with a task students are given to the majority of
to demonstrate thought the class time to inquire on their
immediately.  own in a number of ways. The
purpose is to experience and
. practice why the information should
be learned and how to apply it in the
At the end, students real world. 
demonstrate that they can
answer the Aim by actually
doing so in a way that they see
fit and is acceptable to you as
the teacher - and you are a
successful teacher of 21st
century skills that day because
of your lesson plan.
Role of a Teacher

The role of the teacher here is to facilitate. This

intrinsic student guided inquiry based approach to
learning - will resound. 
Ways to fuse 21st Century Skills into the Lesson
Plans
First, make your lesson plans student centered. This will
maximize guided student interactions and covers
collaboration and communication immediately. By putting
the students at the core of what is done, how it is done, and
evaluate a demonstration of why they learned it, this
element of self choice or even intrinsic buy-in will engage
students to want to participate more. 
Ways to fuse 21st Century Skills into the Lesson
Plans
A student centered lesson plan should always begin with an
open-ended question, which at all cost possible - tie into a
real world applicable purpose as to why they should
remember that information. How can geometry make our
bridges strongest? Why can learning the literary element of
characterization improve our social awareness? Why is
using data important to our survival as a human race? 
Ways to fuse 21st Century Skills into the Lesson
Plans

If you challenge students immediately upon entry of your

classroom, you can engage them with self- inquiry of new
information.
Ways to fuse 21st Century Skills into the Lesson
Plans

The second way, is to link every outcome to a real world

purpose. By doing so, you innately mandate yourself to
include elements of preparation of any sort for that
discovered connection to real life - it’s also considered
capitalizing on a teachable moment. 
21st Century learning skills provide a framework to think our students
need to be successful in a changing world.

● The easy part is using this lesson plan package as a starting point to
explicitly teach 21st Century Skills to students.

● The harder part is shifting our classroom programs to focus

on getting students to develop these transferrable skills as they
explore the curriculum…
Teaching Collaboration Lesson Plan

Just because students work in groups, doesn’t mean they are working
well.

● I’m not talking about if they’re arguing or being distracted.

● I’m talking about the way they work in groups to get the job done.
● And, even if they are working well, it doesn’t mean they
are actually collaborating.
Teaching collaboration skills in the classroom means
thinking about HOW we contribute in groups.
What’s the difference between teaching
“Collaboration Skills” and “Teamwork
Skills”?
While it’s important to get along, collaboration means
creating new understandings to a problem or task.

And that means, disagreeing and finding ways to combine

opposite points of view. Sometimes, students want to avoid
conflict because they want to get along.
● While it’s important to get along, collaboration means
creating new understandings to a problem or task.
● And that means, disagreeing and finding ways to
combine opposite points of view.
● Sometimes, students want to avoid conflict because they
want to get along.
● But passively smiling and agreeing with everyone may
not lead to collaboration. 
Important Concepts for Collaboration

● Collaboration and teamwork is more than just getting

along with our partners.

● Both teamwork and collaboration are about the entire

group working towards a common goal.

● But, collaboration is also about how we share ideas

and create new understandings in our group.
3 parts in teaching collaboration skills for
students.

You need to:

● share ideas
● create new understandings
● work on a common goal
 3 different teamwork styles

● collaboration
● coordination
● cooperation
 3 different teamwork styles

● cooperation
  sharing ideas / resources, but we have
individual goals, and we support each other
and their goals. (We might end up creating
something new)
 3 different teamwork styles

● coordination
teamwork through implementation of a
plan. (We have a shared goal, but we’re not
creating a new plan / understanding. Simply
executing a plan.)
 3 different teamwork styles

● collaboration
working as equals, creating a new
understanding / plan / idea.
Group work doesn’t always mean the group is working. Or that
collaboration takes place.

As teachers, when we watch students participate in a group,

we’re often looking from a classroom management
perspective:
● Are students “working” and on task?
● Do group members distract others?
● Are they distracting themselves?
 The task management, independent work and cooperating
with others are important learning strategies. However, a
collaborative learning lesson plan should go one step
further. Instead of just looking to see if students are on task
in the group, let’s also look to see HOW they are working
together.
 Just because students are talking and working together, doesn’t mean
they’re collaborating. Likewise, just because the class is chatty doesn’t mean
they’re not focused and talking about work.

● In fact, students working in a group could be coordinating – the strong

students are telling everyone else what to do.
● Or, students might just be cooperating with each other. Everyone is focused
on completing their own homework, but in a group.
● Or, students might actually be collaborating in their groups..
The collaborative learning lesson plans should include the
following:

Do students…
● Reflect on their own group work style?
● Develop a growth mindset?
● Recognize that we can use specific collaborative learning strategies
to become better at collaborating?
● Understand that collaboration is different from co-ordination and co-
operation?
● Understand that collaboration is not the same as communication.
(Although you do need effective communication skills to be able to
collaborate well with others.)
● Teaching collaboration skills for students means getting them to realize that
it’s more than just about working in a group or “teamwork.”

● When we are working in groups, we may not always be working towards a

common goal.

● Successful collaboration is about coming up with new understanding – not

simply cooperating with others to reach individual goals, or coordinating
others to implement a plan (to reach our common goal).