Introduction

What does 21st Century learning look like in the ELA classroom? View the video "Teacher Education and 21st Century Skills" and choose one of the skills mentioned in the video to discuss. Reflect what that skill will look like in your classroom. How will you know that your students have acquired this skill? Post your thoughts by going to the Discussion area of this page (Discussion tab at top of this page). Read and reply to at least two other participants thoughts.

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 * Visit The Partnership for 21st Century Skills website to learn more about the skills our students need to thrive in today's world.


 * Read The Framework for Success in Postsecondary Writing on the National Writing Project website. It describes the rhetorical and 21st Century skills that are critical for college success . The Framework identifies eight habits of mind essential for success in college writing—ways of approaching learning that are both intellectual and practical and will support students’ success in a variety of fields and disciplines:
 * Curiosity: the desire to know more about the world.
 * Engagement: a sense of investment and involvement in learning.
 * Openness: the willingness to consider new ways of being and thinking in the world.
 * Creativity: the ability to use novel approaches for generating, investigating, and representing ideas.
 * Persistence: the ability to sustain interest in and attention to short- and long-term projects.
 * Responsibility: the ability to take ownership of one’s actions and understand the consequences of those actions for oneself and others.
 * Flexibility: the ability to adapt to situations, expectations, or demands.
 * Metacognition: the ability to reflect on one’s own thinking as well as on the individual and cultural processes used to structure knowledge.

**How do the ELAR TEKS and College & Career Readiness Standards (CCRS) align with 21st Century skills?** The ELAR TEKS now contain five strands of student expectations: Reading, Writing, Oral & Written Conventions, Research, Listening & Speaking. Student research touches on every one of the strands, but we will focus on the Research strand itself. Open the Research K-12 alignment document posted below to understand what the Texas standards expect students to be able to do across the grades as they are involved in the research process.



**What research skills do colleges expect our students to have as they begin their studies?** <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 130%;">View the video "The Future in Now," a presentation highlighting the changes Rutgers University is making to their humanities department in view of what it means to be literate in the 21st Century. After viewing the video, contrast what your freshman and sophomore college English classes required with Rutgers' courses. Post your thoughts in the discussion area (see tab at the top of this page). Reply to two other participants' posts.

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7 minute presentation to the RU Board of Governors by Richard E. Miller, Chair of Rutgers English, with videography provided by Paul Hammond, Director of Digital Initiatives. Talk provides an overview of the future of English Studies in the Web 2.0 world. 1/24/08.