In a fairly recent article written for the American Consortium for Equity in Education website, entitled “Covid-19 and 21st Century Learning” Four Intentional Actions to Bridge the Divide”, author Amanda Jones explains that after being in our 20th year of the 21st century, this current call for 21st century skills (the 4 C’s) that have been pushed because to the Covid 19 pandemic is not a novel concept. I am not trying to take away from the unfortunate circumstances that have been associated with this pandemic. But I did find it interesting that Dr. Jones viewed the current state of our education system, during this pandemic, as a window of opportunity to see some change related to a paradigm shift that has been in the making for twenty years. Jones references this idea of “leveraging technology” to support the change, not only in schools, but to grow a community. She states: “Building community provides students with the opportunity to think critically, see how their learning relates to the world beyond the “walls” of their school. There are many ways to “grow community” within your classroom, school, and district” (Jones, 2020). 
As a soon to be educator, I find it interesting that I am considered to be a “digital native”, which is a person born or brought up during the age of digital technology. Therefore I am familiar with computers and the Internet from an early age. I can remember saving money for months, when I was in elementary school to get my first iPAD. However, it was not until my sophomore year of high school before I received a personal laptop for my course work. This shows that I am a “digital native”, but my environment was shifting during that time to meet my needs as a learner. When I learned about the 4C’s being a national movement to support technological advancements and 21st century learning, I noticed that there was so much more to a technology-supported environment. It is about windows and doors of opportunity. Windows and doors that can lead us to collaborative experiences that challenge our thinking and help us to grow outside of our own physical experiences. And here we are today…. taking social distancing mandates due to health precautions to see that we change our schools. We can change our lives and the lives of those around us in a positive way. Of course, we have to know the safety precautions, and we have to be willing to “think outside the box” about how to collaborate and think critically so that everyone has a chance and a voice to participate. Just like Jones, I want to see this shift in educational practice help us all to find the “good” and focus on the skills necessary for truly meeting 21st century learning expectations.
I look up to practitioners in the field and the continuation of published research around this topic to help guide us in this change in thinking. I want to learn from them to understand what works, what doesn’t work, and what we can do as a global unit to move forward with our new experiences to make education better for future teachers. Current and future educators will continue to establish effective ways of implementation of the 4C’s ( critical thinking, communication, collaboration, and creativity) to support 21st century teaching and learning. So, let’s lean on each other. Let’s join in to utilize this unforeseen additional 5th C, “corona”, to grow a community of true digital natives.