{"id":8331,"date":"2015-04-07T03:00:46","date_gmt":"2015-04-07T10:00:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/educatorinnovator.org\/?p=8331"},"modified":"2015-04-06T16:59:32","modified_gmt":"2015-04-06T23:59:32","slug":"what-does-it-mean-to-be-future-ready-adaptable-for-starters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/educatorinnovator.org\/what-does-it-mean-to-be-future-ready-adaptable-for-starters\/","title":{"rendered":"What Does It Mean to Be \u201cFuture Ready?\u201d (Adaptable, for Starters)"},"content":{"rendered":"

At the end of March, the most recent Future Ready Summit kicked off in Atlanta. More than 150 school and district leaders heard from education and technology experts, discussed what a \u201cfuture ready\u201d school looks like, and networked with other educators from around the region.<\/p>\n

The summit was part of the Future Ready initiative, which builds on\u00a0the White House\u2019s much larger ConnectED. Through different means, the overall aim of both initiatives is to bring districts, schools, and libraries into the 21st century and give kids the skills and opportunities they need to succeed in a fast-changing world.<\/p>\n

In addition to the 12 summits taking place around the country through the summer, the Future Ready Pledge is a\u00a0key piece of the Future Ready Initiative. District leaders commit to working with educators, communities, and families to make their districts future ready. More than 2,000 superintendents have taken the pledge so far, and the numbers are growing.<\/p>\n

But what does being future ready mean, exactly? There\u2019s no single answer. One element, of course, is having the basic technological infrastructure like Wi-Fi in place. According to the Federal Communications Commission<\/a> (FCC), 35 percent of schools nationwide still lack access to fiber networks needed for today\u2019s digital learning tools.<\/p>\n

Or, as President Obama explained at a ConnectED to the Future convening at the White House last fall, \u201cIn a country where we expect free Wi-Fi with our coffee, the least we can do is expect that our schools are properly wired.\u201d\u00a0\"Screen<\/a><\/p>\n

Can being future ready mean more than internet speed and devices? A panel of National Writing Project (NWP) directors and staff discussed that question on an NWP Radio episode<\/a> in late February. A theme emerging from the rich discussion was that being future ready isn\u2019t about knowing all the answers to questions about what the world will look like in 2025. It\u2019s about asking the right questions, here and now.<\/p>\n

\u201cI really see the Future Ready initiative as hitting on a moment,\u201d said Zac Chase, ConnectED Fellow at the US Department of Education. \u201cTechnology asks our districts, our schools, and our states to stop and say, \u2018Hey, what is it that we want to be doing?\u2019 It\u2019s a question we haven\u2019t had to ask ourselves before for quite some time in education.\u201d<\/p>\n

Chase described how being future ready means asking a set of questions to\u00a0dig deeper into curricula and pedagogy goals. What is school for? What do we\u00a0want students to be able to do<\/em>? What\u2019s your vision? What isn\u2019t<\/em> your vision?<\/p>\n

For Bud Hunt, instructional technologist and teacher-consultant at the Colorado State University Writing Project, becoming future ready means continuing a planning process to adapt more quickly to a shifting educational landscape.<\/p>\n

\u201cI find that a lot of times ongoing planning isn\u2019t ongoing,\u201d Hunt said. \u201cIt happens and then it stops. But I see a lot of rich inquiry built into the Future Ready materials.\u201d<\/p>\n

Janet Ilko, teacher-consultant at the San Diego Area Writing Project, echoed that\u00a0idea: It\u2019s impossible to know exactly what the future looks like unless you\u2019re clairvoyant. Instead, her focus is on adaptability and accepting change as technology continues to open new opportunities for students.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we focus on in being future ready is the idea you\u2019re consistently getting ready,\u201d Ilko said. \u201c[It\u2019s about] your ability to morph into what\u2019s going on in the world now as opposed to how you taught before. But not only valuing the past, but looking toward the future and what you really want to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

The educators also talked about the issue of equity and how being future ready means\u00a0considering how new tools and practices promote—or discourage—a more equitable future for students.<\/p>\n

\u201cInstead of thinking about, \u2018What device do we want to buy?\u2019 we try to think about what tools do we have at our disposal and how are we using those toward a more equitable future for the students we serve,\u201d said Joe Dillon, instructional technologist and teacher-consultant at the Denver Writing Project.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s a first step for a district looking to get involved? Ask your district leader whether he or she has taken the Future Ready pledge, said Bob Jobin, program associate at NWP. This question can invite a conversation on how a school or district is preparing for what\u2019s next.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think every educator is looking to empower their students as leaders and writers,\u201d Jobin said. \u201cIf we can find a way to do this through the Future Ready initiative, and find a way to help districts enter into the conversation with Writing Project sites, that\u2019s really the first step.\u201d<\/p>\n

Photo\/ Friends’ Central School<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Learn more about the White House’s new Future Ready initiative and how it plans to bring districts, schools, and libraries into the 21st century, and give kids the skills and opportunities they need to succeed in a fast-changing world.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":21,"featured_media":8421,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[22,8,41,11],"tags":[501,500,495,502],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/educatorinnovator.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8331"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/educatorinnovator.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/educatorinnovator.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/educatorinnovator.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/21"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/educatorinnovator.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8331"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/educatorinnovator.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8331\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8419,"href":"https:\/\/educatorinnovator.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8331\/revisions\/8419"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/educatorinnovator.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8421"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/educatorinnovator.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8331"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/educatorinnovator.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8331"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/educatorinnovator.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8331"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}