21st Century Learners

For me, supporting 21st Century learners means supporting daily use of higher-order thinking skills in a problem-solving, collaborative environment. Students need to be put into positions of action rather reception, in both knowledge acquisition and social stimulation. They need to take risks in and make decisions about real-world context in a safe classroom environment so that they have the confidence to do so in situations they face outside the classroom. Teachers can focus on building resiliency, self-efficacy, internal motivation, goal setting skills and self-reflection as ways to increase students' academic, emotional, social, and mental capabilities.
The amount of educationally driven technologies is astounding (and as an industry I think it poses interesting questions about the nature of capitalism and education, but that is a whole other tangent). ELL students can have access to translation programs, visual aids, and Google (how useful is Google to all of us!?) when they need it the most - to understand what is going on in class! When we plan our lessons around available technologies, we can incorporate a lot of the cognitive skills I mentioned above in a purposeful way. For example, using GoogleDocs to take group notes provides all student real-time access to the content but also allows them to ask each other clarification questions (through the comment/chat functions). When teachers use UDL and DI, technology provides was to incorporate multiple different areas of content, assessment, and processes.
I think it is important to recognize that all students need to receive equitable access to education. Regardless of the barriers a student faces, their classroom teachers, administration, and support staff should work together to alleviate these barriers for that student. The observable behaviours English Language Learners exhibit can resemble those of students with special education needs, making it difficult to determine the source of the behaviour. Teachers also need to be cautious in their informal 'diagnoses' of a student's needs because that is not within our professional expertise. The procedures put in place by the Ministry of Education outlined in documents like the STEP program, the ESL/ELD curriculum, Many Roots, Many Voices, Ministry monographs such as "Including Students with Exceptionalities" and Growing Success should be reviewed yearly by all teachers to ensure their teaching is aligned with student needs and best practices.
I think teacher collaboration at the start of the year is an effective way to ensure students with exceptionalities are given the most appropriate and effective instruction. This is especially important for ELLs because their behavior and language ability might be different in various classroom environments, and as teachers share their observations and strategies the student's needs might be more easily met in classes they are struggling with. This also allows teachers to use UDL and especially the tiered approach effectively, as they are able to put together a more holistic understanding of student needs and anticipate interventions, addressing problems before they become problematic to the student's learning.

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