Partnership for the 21st Century Skills

I had an opportunity to view the Partnership for the 21^st Century Skills website.   I was quite impressed with the amount of information they have included within their website.  It appears that over 16 states have taken some initiative into this idea; although Tennessee is not one of them and this is the first I had heard of the concept.

Since this was entirely new information to me, the entire website helped me develop a new understanding. Part of their (P21) mission statement says,

            “To successfully face rigorous higher education coursework, career challenges and a globally competitive workforce, U.S. schools must align classroom environments with real world environments by fusing the 3Rs and 4Cs:

·         The 3Rs include: English, reading or language arts; mathematics; science; foreign languages; civics; government; economics; arts; history; and geography.

·         The 4Cs include: critical thinking and problem solving; communication, collaboration; and creativity and innovation.”

I agree with the 3Rs and the 4Cs- those are very important subject areas and great skills to learn in order to be successful in the future. The most surprising and helpful tool they put on their site were their 21^st century skills maps. I teach fifth graders, so I took a look at the fourth grade.  It provided certain standards that should be reached under the 3Rs and 4Cs and examples on how to reach it.  It appears like they meet a lot of the new common core standards that are starting to be implemented and add a technology piece to them. 

I am not sure there is anything I disagree with on the website, just some concerns and frustrations. The frustration is that I had never heard of P21 before, yet many states are involved with it. Because of my lack of knowledge, some of the items on the website were a bit confusing to me. So I will continue to explore and read. The concern would be that I think the skills are great but states are becoming so concerned with passing tests and I am not sure how much state assessment tests match up with P21.

New or not new, the Partnership for 21^st Century Skills has supported the fact that we need to teach differently. Our students may possess jobs in the future that do not even exist today. Jobs are changing. We need to adapt our teaching to properly prepare our students for the changing workplace. Our students will need to be able to communicate, collaborate, use creativity, and be able to problem solve. Teaching “old school”- paper and pencil, test at the end of the chapter, and independent learning won’t cut it in the real world today. Not everything has to be done with technology, but technology does play a very big part of our workplace and the world.  Therefore, technology needs to be incorporated and explored within the classroom.

Reference:

http://www.p21.org/  (2011)

Classroom Blogging Benefits

I am a little overwhelmed by the vast number of ways one could use a blog in a classroom setting. I appreciate Richardson’s (2010) comment when he stated, “the best way to fully understand the potential of Weblogs as a teaching and learning tool is to become a blogger (43).”  This is my first experience with blogging and I am thankful for the opportunity.

 I teach fifth graders. I teach most of the core subjects: math, English, literature, spelling, social studies, and religion.  As a novice blogger, I think I would first use the blog for my students to interact about the content.  I like the idea of providing a thought-provoking question and having the students respond with an answer; not only to the question, but to respond to two or three other students’ responses. It would allow everyone to share, everyone to be heard, and a chance to disagree or agree appropriately with their peers. Sometimes in the classroom we run out of time or the shy student does not always speak up; this allows all students to be a part of the conversation.

 I could also initially use it as a place to once a week post a student’s work and let other students see and respond to the piece of writing. It would provide feedback and encouragement to the student.

Initially, I would have them post and respond to my blog. It would give the students a chance to have educational conversations outside of the classroom in a setting that would interest them because it is technology. Blogging presents a world of opportunities.

Reference:

Richardson, W. (2010). Blogs, wikis, podcasts, and other powerful web tools for classrooms (3rd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.

My First Attempt

This is my first attempt at blogging. I have always been curious about the process, but never been brave enough to try it. I am currently working on getting my Master's Degree in Integrating Technology in the Classroom, so it is time to overcome my fears and enter the blogging world.