Lesson 1
21st Century Literacy Skills
Learning Outcomes
At the end of the lesson, you should be able to:
• Identify and describe the elements of 21st century literacy skills.
• Discuss the rationale for teaching and learning 21st Century Skills.
• Write a Personal Lifelong Learning Plan (PLLP).
Time Frame 3 days
Introduction
With the upsurge of the 21st century, the whole world has seen a period of
extraordinary change in all territories, regardless of whether it is instruction, worldwide
exchange, and economy, innovation, or society. As of late, the COVID-19 pandemic is
likewise hurling difficulties for a person to adapt to its effects. Usually, for such
occasions, an alternate range of abilities is required that would empower an individual to
adapt up and prevail with regards to confronting the difficulties, all things considered,
prompting his/her comprehensive advancement.
These abilities are tended to as 21st Century Skills/Learning Skills/Transversal
Competencies and so on. The 21st Century Skills are the aptitudes that are required by a
person for his/her all-encompassing turn of events with the goal that he/she can add to the
advancement and improvement of the general public/country and world.
Effective instruction in 21st-century literacies takes an integrated approach, helping
students understand how to access, evaluate, synthesize, and contribute to the
information. As a forthcoming teacher of the 21st century, you need to be familiar with
the latest literacies, or new fields of learning that you need to illustrate and prioritize
while managing teaching and learning activities. But first, these literacies need to be
established yourself before you can pass them on to your students.
Analysis
To extend the information about the lesson, address the following issue
comprehensively.
• In your own words, define 21st Century Skills.
• Why is it essential, as a teacher, to learn the expertise, skills, attitudes and values
required to respond to 21st-century demands?
• Characterize and briefly describe some of the core literacies of the 21st century.
• Explain a person who is: information and communications technology (ICT)
literate and media literate.
• Why is needed to incorporate the 21st Century Literacy Skills agenda into an
education delivery system?
• Cite evidence do you have that says 21st-century skills improve teaching and
learning. Where is this impacting teaching and learning?
• 21st-century skills are all critical for your students to master to achieve success in
the future. You now try to review the descriptions of each skill and think of
A. What could it mean in your subject and grade level in the future?
B. How can you integrate these skills into your lesson plan?
C. What would these skills look like in your classroom?
Abstraction
What are 21st Century Skills?
The word ‘abilities of the 21st century’ refers to a wide range of believed
expertise, skills, work habits, and character traits by educators, school reformers, college
professors, employers, and others to be critically important to success in today’s world.
21st Century Skills refer to the skills that are required to enable an individual to face the
challenges of the 21st-century world that is globally-active, digitally transforming,
collaboratively moving forward, creatively progressing, seeking competent human-
resource and quick in adopting changes.
Wagner (2010) and the Change Leadership at Harvard University identified
another set of competencies and skills. Informed by several hundred interviews with
business, non- profit and education leaders, Wagner stressed that the students need seven
survival skills to prepare for life, work and citizenship in the 21st century: Critical
thinking and problem
solving, collaboration and leadership, agility and adaptability, initiative and
entrepreneurialism, effective oral and written communication, accessing and analyzing
information, curiosity and imagination.
21st Century Themes
Global Awareness
• Make use of expertise from the 21st century to consider and fix global problems
• Learning from and engaging with people who represent various cultures,
religions, and lifestyles in a spirit of mutual respect and open dialog in
personal, work and community contexts
• Knowing other nations and traditions through the use of languages other
than English
Financial, Economic, Business and Entrepreneurial Literacy
• Knowing how to make the best personal financial decisions
• Understanding the economy’s position in society
• Use entrepreneurial skills to boost profitability and job opportunities in the
workplace
Civic Literacy
• Being able to engage efficiently in public life by learning how to remain
updated and respecting policy processes
• Exercising citizenship rights and responsibilities at the local, state,
national and global levels
• Understanding the consequences of local and global political decisions
Health Literacy
• Obtaining, interpreting and recognizing basic health knowledge and
resources and using them in ways that improve health
• Knowing preventive steps for physical and mental health include a healthy diet,
nutrition, exercise, disease avoidance, and stress management
• Usage of available information to make reasonable decisions to safety
• Establishing and managing personal and family wellbeing priorities
• Understanding regional and international facets of public health and safety
Environmental Literacy
• Demonstrate awareness and understanding of the environment and the
conditions and circumstances that affect it, especially about air, atmosphere,
land, food, energy, water and ecosystems
• Show experience and awareness of the effect of society on the natural
environment ( e.g., population growth, economic development, rate of resource
use, etc.)
• Investigate and evaluate environmental issues, and draw definite conclusions
on possible solutions
• Take individual and collective action to tackle environmental problems ( e.g.,
global action, approaches that encourage action on environmental issues)
Learning and Innovation Skills
Increasingly, learning and creativity skills are recognized as those that
distinguish students who are prepared for ever more dynamic living and working
environments in the 21st century, and those who are not. To prepare students for the
future, a focus on innovation, critical thinking, communication, and teamwork is
essential.
Creativity and Innovation
Think Creatively
• Using a large variety of methods to generate concepts (such as brainstorming)
• Creating new and exciting innovations (both revolutionary and incremental)
• Create, refine, evaluate and assess your thinking to improve and optimize
creative efforts
Work Creatively with Others
• Effectively create, introduce and pass on new ideas to others
• Be responsive and receptive to new and diverse perspectives; job input and
feedback
• Demonstrating originality and inventiveness in the workplace and
recognizing the actual drawbacks of introducing new ideas
• See failure as an opportunity to learn; know that creativity and innovation
are a long-term, cyclical cycle of minor successes and regular errors
Implement Innovations
• Act on new ideas to make a concrete and meaningful difference to the area
where the invention takes place
Critical Thinking and Problem Solving
Reason Effectively
• Using the different forms of reasoning (inductive, deductive, etc.) according
to the situation
Use Systems Thinking
• Analyze how portions of a whole communicate with each other to achieve
overall results in complex systems
Make Judgments and Decisions
• Analyze and appraise facts, points, statements, and beliefs effectively
• Analyze and analyze essential alternative perspectives
• Synthesize and connect the knowledge and the arguments
• Interpret details and conclude using the best possible methodology
• Grant serious thought to learning experiences and processes
Solve Problems
• Solve different forms of unknown issues, both conventionally and innovatively
• Identify and ask essential questions which explain different perspectives
and lead to better solutions
Communication and Collaboration
Communicate Clearly
• Articulate thoughts and ideas effectively in several ways and contexts using
vocal, written and nonverbal communication skills
• Hear to decode meaning effectively like information, beliefs, attitudes, and
intentions
• Using contact for a variety of purposes (for example, educating,
instructing, motivating and persuading)
• Using various media and technologies, and know-how to determine their
performance a priori and their effect
• Effectively interact in can contexts (including multi-lingual ones)
Collaborate with Others
• Demonstrating the ability to work with diverse teams efficiently and respectfully
• Exercise flexibility and expertise to help make the sacrifices possible to
achieve a shared goal
• Assume mutual responsibility for collaborative work, and respect each team
member’s contributions
Information, Media and Technology Skills
In the 21st century, people live in a technology and media-sufficient
environment, characterized by different characteristics, including 1) exposure to an
abundance of information, 2) rapid improvements in technology resources, and 3)
the opportunity to collaborate and make individual contributions on an unparalleled
scale. Citizens and staff, useful in the 21st century, must be able to demonstrate a
variety of practical and critical competencies in information, media, and technology
thought.
Information Literacy
Access and Evaluate Information
• Effectively (time) and productively (sources) access information;
• Assess details objectively and skillfully
Use and Manage Information
• Using details correctly and creatively for the specific issue or question
• Manage information exchange from a large variety of sources
• Apply a clear understanding of ethical/legal problems concerning access
to and use of information
Media Literacy
Analyze Media
• Know how and why media messages are created, and for what purposes
• Examine how people understand terms differently, how principles and
opinions are integrated or omitted, and how media can affect attitudes and
behaviors
• Apply a clear understanding of ethical/legal problems related to access and use of
media
Create Media Products
• Know-how and why media messages are created, and for what purposes
• Examine how people understand terms differently, how principles and
opinions are integrated or omitted, and how media can affect attitudes and
behaviors
• Apply a clear understanding of ethical/legal problems related to access and
use of media
ICT (Information, Communications and Technology) Literacy
Apply Technology Effectively
• Using technology as an instrument for studying, arranging, analyzing and
communicating information
• Using modern technology (computers, PDAs, media players, GPS, etc.),
communication/networking tools, and social networks to access, handle,
incorporate, analyze and generate information that works in a knowledge
economy successfully
• Apply a clear understanding of ethical/legal problems related to access to and use
of information technology
Life and Career Skills
Life and work environments today need much more than analytical skills and
knowledge of content. In the globally competitive knowledge age, the ability to
manage the diverse living and work environments requires students to pay close
work in improving appropriate life skills and career skills.
Flexibility and Adaptability
Adapt to Change
• Respond to diverse tasks, employment, schedules and contexts
• Work successfully in an uncertain world and with shifting goals
Be Flexible
• Effectively integrate feedback
• Addressing praise, failures, and criticism
• Understand, negotiate and balance different views and beliefs for achieving
workable solutions, particularly in multicultural environments
Initiative and Self-Direction
Manage Goals and Time
• Set expectations with parameters of measurable and intangible performance
• Tactical (short term) and strategic (long term) alignment goals
• Using resources, and effectively control workload
Work Independently
• Track, describe, prioritize and execute tasks without direct supervision
Be Self-directed Learners
• Go beyond the necessary skills or curricula to develop and enhance one’s
learning and knowledge
• Demonstrate commitment to developing skills to professional level
• Demonstrate dedication to Lifelong Learning
• A critical reflection on past experiences to guide future development
Social and Cross-Cultural Skills
Interact Effectively with Others
• Know when listening is necessary, and when to speak
• Behave properly, professionally
Work Effectively in Diverse Teams
• Respect cultural differences and collaborate with people from all walks of
life and community effectively
• Respond openly to opposing ideas and beliefs
• Profit from social and cultural differences to generate new ideas and boost
innovation and job effectiveness
Productivity and Accountability
Manage Projects
• Set and achieve targets, particularly when faced with challenges and
conflicting pressures
• Prioritize, schedule and execute work to achieve the desired outcome
Produce Results
• Demonstrate added qualities associated with the development of high-quality
outputs. Including the ability to work positively and ethically, efficiently
manage time and tasks, multi-task, participate actively, be consistent and
prompt, present yourself professionally and with a proper mark, collaborate
and cooperate with teams, value, and appreciate the diversity of groups and
be responsible for outcomes.
Leadership and Responsibility
Guide and Lead Others
• Using organizational and problem-solving skills to influence others and
direct them towards an objective
• Leverage other people’s abilities to reach a shared goal
• Encourage others to do their very best by example and selflessness
• Demonstrate honesty and ethical actions in exerting authority and control
Be Responsible to Others
• Act professionally with broader group values in mind
What is 21st Century Literacy Skill?
Information, both from the traditional
sources like Books, Newspapers, etc. and
other digital sources like the Internet sites,
social media, Apps, etc. is to be used
effectively and judiciously by students. It is
to be seen carefully by the teachers that
information available is used at all levels
of Bloom’s TaxonomyThey must be able
to recall, understand, apply, interpret,
assess the information provided, and build
new knowledge.
In Growing Up Digital: How the Net
Generation Is Changing Your World, gives
the following eight reasons why students
use technology:
• Freedom of expression
• Facility to use it as per likings
• Multiple resources of information
• Open interaction
• Blend of work and play
• Connecting and collaborating
• Exploring and Innovating
Tabular presentation of the basis, purpose, and strategy in the digital classroom.
Basis • Accessing Information
• Collaborating
• Communicating
• Using Information
• Analysing Information
• Interpreting Information
• Creating New Information
Purpose IMT makes the learning environment more exciting than
a traditional classroom environment and helps the
students perform better in their respective careers.
Strategy Digital classroom • With traditional blackboard, digital interactive boards
should be placed in the classroom.
• This will aid in the teaching-learning process. In
teaching
of lesson related to space, teachers can show videos of
space to children for long-lasting memories.
Activities that develop 21st Century Literacy skills
Know-How
The teacher must show the
children how to look for the details and
where to look. Then the teacher will
give them topics to explore and will see
how children are seeking and if they
were following her instructions or not.
Design an App
Students will be asked to identify
a problem (environment/ societal
/school- related) and design an App
using ICT to offer a viable solution to
it. Even if they do not have the
technical know-how to create an App,
they will plan it on paper by preparing
a detailed write-up on the why, what,
how, etc. of the App. This would also
enhance their critical thinking and
decision making.
Designing a Blog, Website, PPT
Ask children to design a PPT or blog and see how they do that. Tell them what
all can be done in the PPT or blog. This will help children to get information about
how to use Powerpoint and Microsoft word etc.
Application
Would you love to find out how much the module has taught you?
Start this mission, and complete it.
Identify the literacy areas in which you are great, right, or weak. Then build a
personal life plan to fix the places where you are still weak and strengthen those you
already are good or strong. In writing your Own Lifelong Learning Plan (PLLP),
you can use the template in the activity as a reference, which includes the following:
• The seven 21st century literacies
• Your level of competency for each literacy
• Activities that will help improve or enhance literacy
• Time Frame
• Support/Resources Needed
• Barriers/Challenges
• Solutions/Action Points
Closure
The key competitiveness challenge of the next decade is developing an
integrated, 21st-century public education system that prepares Filipinos to succeed.
Addressing this challenge requires stable, forward-thinking leadership from
government, policy-makers, and teachers. This lesson gave you details on the
experience, skills, attitudes, and values to help you prepare to be an efficient teacher
in the 21st century.
Congratulations! It shows that you are already familiar with the contents of
this lesson. You can now proceed to the next experience of this module.