What Do Our 21st Century Learners Look Like?

And we're off...
At least I am.  No, school has not officially begun, nor has staff inservice, but I for one, have begun my "back to school" regimen with changing classrooms, redecorating, cleaning, organizing, and most importantly, attending a few various meetings here and there. 

Today I'm off to my Literacy Cadre meeting, however, last week, I attended a new "council" meeting of a technology group our district has just created.  Technology is great, right?  Last summer, I shared various "techie" things I learned at technology workshops, like Alan November. 

Whereas last year's workshops taught me new, innovative, and specific ways to use technology in the classroom, this meeting last week was more broad discussion...all stemming around the question of how can we meet the needs and truly engage, inspire, and teach our 21st century learners?  In a world of constant information, I'll admit, there are many times I struggle to gain my students' attention on "lessons" that I think are pretty darn good or engaging.  But it's not my thoughts or wants/needs that I teach  to.  So that's the question to be thinking about as we start this year...

This little 5 minute video is oh-so inspiring and thought provoking.  I'd love for you to watch it, think about it, and let me know your thoughts.  What do you do for your 21st century learners?  Are you part of the 14% that let your students create, explore, and examine technology or the 86% that barely do?