leadership in high schools

When I was in school,  my teachers taught using the philosophy that School was preparation for Life.  This was in the 70s and 80s.  I do not believe that this is so anymore.  School is Life.  It replicates everything that occurs in society – discipline, management of people, harnessing of resources, team work, collaboration, etc.  School for our students today is Life, hence we have to teach them how to harness technology and use it to problem solve, create, plan and produce.  Technology use should be seamless in that students should comfortable knowing what to do with it when faced with a classroom problem or when called upon to come up with a solution.  Technology is a learning resource.  Schools should teach using a holistic approach. 
Project based learning forces collaboration, team work, and group problem solving.  This method of thinking is reflected in the workplace.  Therefore, whereas the ideology of “School is Preparation for Life” which means preparation for a job, today’s “Schools are Life” where we have to teach skills that are replicated in society – these are the 21st century skills that our students need to survive in this new world.  Collaboration, cooperation with people and technology integration into problem solving to produce results that are beneficial to mankind rather than just the individual. 

It is predicted that in 2080, there will be a threatening global shortage of fresh water.  How will your students attend to this issue?  How will their discussions begin?  What skills/tools will they use to address this problem?  How will the book knowledge you are teaching them now help them solve this issue for themselves?  What will they do?  What will they say if told this statement?  What will the results of their group think result in – an essay, a project, referral to other authorities, more questions with no solution, fighting, criticizing, blaming others?  What will their learning look like and how will your teaching today affect their academic outcomes when faced with this problem.  Students should be taught information but problem solving should be a key feature of all learning.  Do your students know about social collaboration with other students in other countries? 

Go to http://lunchboxproject.wiki.spaces.com /Slide Share to see how one teacher in Australia is having students collaborate with schools in other countries to answer a basic question.  Have you as the teacher harnessed this technology in order to meet the needs of your students for the world they are living in now?