21 Century Skills

Currently I am working at Raub Middle School in Allentown School District. For a title one school I have been shown that Allentown really pushes for effective communication. As a first year teacher you are required to take so many introduction in services and one is called "effective communication" with parents that are not native to Allentown, very little education and English as a second language it is important to communicate to them so they understand their rights and responsibilities as a parent. It also important to teach them and communicate to them that are outside services in their community. So teacher parent communication skills are very important to have with in the district. Along with having a very diverse population it is important to have global awareness. Allentown also provides in-services to help recognize and cope with teaching diversity. When I first started to working at Raub it drove me crazy, that all the students called me Miss or Missy...to me it was like nails down a chalk board, so I drilled and drilled that my name was Mrs. Youwakim. Than about 3-4 months ago I was talking in the teachers cafe with one of the ESL teachers and she explained that in the Spanish culture it was their way of showing respect.
When it comes to high productivity in Allentown, I believe we tend to go to far with effective use of the real world. So many kids in Allentown are mommy and daddy's to their younger peers and have no time or concept of responsibility of being a KID! There is so much pressure on teachers to teach these kids real world 'morals'. It is sad at times because we focus and spend so much time on those lessons we skip the fact that they are kids, but if we didn't it is almost like a domino effect in that they will most likely end up on the streets rather than having some knowledge of real world transitions.
So I believe that Allentown provides a lot of good trainings on 21 century skills, just used in a twisted sort of way!