So yesterday here in balmy Toronto, I got asked the question directly: even though we can’t be certain about what the future looks like in terms of preparing our kids for it, what, generally speaking, do we know? What general characteristics can we assume in terms of rethinking our curriculum and our practice?

I threw some ideas out, some of which I’ve tried to articulate below. It’s difficult on many levels…are we talking about what they need to know in terms of education? Their profession? Environmentally? From a citizenship standpoint? But truth be told, I’ve been mulling the idea of this post for a while now, so I’d appreciate any sage answers you might be willing to contribute as well. (Come to think of it, this sounds like a potential Tweet…)

Our kids’ futures will require them to be:

Networked–They’ll need an “outboard brain.”
More collaborative–They are going to need to work closely with people to co-create information.
More globally aware–Those collaborators may be anywhere in the world.
Less dependent on paper–Right now, we are still paper training our kids.
More active–In just about every sense of the word. Physically. Socially. Politically.
Fluent in creating and consuming hypertext–Basic reading and writing skills will not suffice.
More connected–To their communities, to their environments, to the world.
Editors of information–Something we should have been teaching them all along but is even more important now.

There’s more, obviously. But I’m curious. What would you add? Or what would you push back against?

Janet and Tracy’s ICT Goals
1. EPEARL – assist as many teachers as possible in implementing electronic portfolios in their classrooms as possible!
2. 65% of SVSD k-8 teachers implementing LwICT
3. Communication with K-8 teachers/administrators – Newsletter items, mass email with an interesting tech tidbit, maintaining our blog and Del.ic.ious acccounts
4. Making LwICT as teacher friendly as possible

1) Cyberwise – free posters/info for educators, students, parents (Government of Canada)

2) Internet 101 (RCMP) – info/links/activities for educators, students, and parents

This should take you to a page that you can sign up for free.  It is worth checking out when you get some time.  You will want to go the “assignments” section and check out some of the tests and see if they might be useful to you and your class.

Hope this works. If not, just google jeopardy templates and look for the above address.