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=**21st Century Thinking and Schooling **=

The **21st-Cent-School** wiki is a collaborative project of the 21st Century Thinking and Schooling PLC (Professional Learning Community) at The Westminster Schools' Junior High School in Atlanta, GA. This PLC is sponsored by The Center for Teaching at The Westminster Schools, and it is co-facilitated by Bo Adams, principal of the Junior High School, and Bob Ryshke, executive director of The Center for Teaching.

Beginning in January 2009, the PLC will research and implement various concepts and practices of 21st Century Thinking and Schooling.

**About Our Journey** In //The Hero with a Thousand Faces//, Joseph Cambell explained that virtually all stories "contain the same basic ingredients and follow the same general recipe...'the hero's journey'" (as quoted by Daniel Pink in //A Whole New Mind//, p. 104). The story of this PLC's journey into 21st Century Thinking and Schooling will surely follow the same recipe. As argued by Pink, "It begins with the knowledge worker, the master of L-Directed aptitudes [someone educated in the late Industrial Age to the Information Age]. She faces a transformative crisis (wrought by Abundance, Asia, and Automation [and changing students]) and must answer the call (of a new way to work and live [and teach].) She resists the call at first (protesting...denying that things need to change). But eventually she crosses the threshhold (into the Conceptual Age). She faces challenges and difficulties (mastering R-Directed aptitudes). But she perserveres, aquires those capabilities, and returns as someone who can inhabit both worlds (she has a whole new mind)." (Pink, //A Whole New Mind//, p. 105)

Why do we resist the call and continue to teach in "20th Century ways?" In thinking about this question, Bo Adams remembered a story that his graduate school mentor told. Dr. Pajares told a story similar to this…

One night, after studying in the library, a student walked from the university to his apartment. On the way to his apartment, he passed a professor's home and observed him bent over under a street light seemingly looking for something. The student stopped and asked, "Professor, have you lost something?" The professor responded, "Yes, I have lost my keys." The student, wanting to be helpful, began to assist the professor in the search for his keys." After some time, the keys were clearly not in this area of the yard. The student asked, "Professor, are you sure you lost your keys here?" To that the professor answered, "Oh no, I am sure I did not lose my keys here." Frustrated at the apparently wasted time and effort, the student asked, "Then why are you looking here?" The professor looked into the student's eyes and said, "Because there is more light here."

I believe a number of teachers teach in the manner that they teach because "there is more light there." They teach in the way that they themselves were taught and/or they teach in the way that has become habit…an easy to see method because there is more light there. Yet, the "keys" might not be in the glow of that particular light, that typical practice of teaching. The keys for teaching in the 21st century might well be in an area of the yard that is not illuminated easily by those methods of past experience, convenience and habit. We might have to search and stretch in new places and in new ways so that we can actually find the keys. Those people who are interested in discussing the possible new directions for 21st Century Thinking and Schooling are already admitting that they want to find the keys, even if they are not easily located in the lighted areas.

To stretch the metaphor, many committed educators are realizing that our "key chain" of teaching tools and methods needs updating. "The locks" are changing - students in the digital age are different than earlier students. So, as we undertake our hero's journey, we will be searching for new keys, often in places where the light might initially be dimmer. At the same time, we will be trying to determine which keys from the past we most want and need to keep on our key chain. Here's to joining the amazing list of heroes that have successfully journeyed through their epic tales.

** WHY IS THE 21st CENTURY PLC USING A WIKI? **

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