The Partnership for 21st Century Skills

The application for this week calls for an examination of the Partnership for 21st Century skills website and identification of the usefulness of the site. Overall, what I have found is a site that shows a strong plan for teaching students the skills they will need to survive in a world that utilizes technology readily and is widely different from the currently level of schooling. Today’s students are immersed in technology in their personal lives, both at home and in society, yet face little technology when they are at school. Often this disconnect between home and school leads to behavior issues and is a disservice to the lives they will lead outside of the school.

My initial reaction to this site was that it was just another site outlining an educational plan. I was expecting some good ideas but maybe not really realistic or completely thought through in regards to the effects on students. Entirely the opposite, the more I examined, I found a site that includes an excellent plan for accommodating all students through building on essential 21st century skills. The idea for teaching 21st century skills are built off a framework that combines core subjects with skills needed in the workplace. This framework is solid and serves to provide the guidance for teachers looking to add these skills to their curriculum. Success in “today’s world” does not mean a focus on a single branch of this framework but rather strengthening both core academic skills and 21st century skills. Through this partnership, students are expected to strengthen their life and career skills in conjunction with innovational and technology skills becoming increasingly diverse in their outside lives.

The site itself was well developed and easily accessible displaying the entire history and methodology of the 21st century learning and also provides ways to bring it fully into the classroom. The information itself is backed by educational and technical associations encompassing the entire spectrum of 21st century skills with the students first learning the basics of core knowledge already taught in schools through the expansion of critical and analytical thinking of the high school years. Among the members supporting this foundation are Dell computers, the National Education Association and Sesame Workshop a mix that helps ensure a focus on students regardless of age or circumstance.

This site includes a lot of solid information outlining the role of educators, administrators and technical advisors in strengthening the role of 21st century skills in the classroom. Much of the information is what I expected form this type of site, a plan from start to finish that serves to strengthen academic skill and life skills. One thing that surprised me was the way the plan would be implemented. Often new frameworks for learning chose to eliminate the traditional ways of teaching. 21st century learning does not call for elimination of the traditional core information, but rather chooses an augmentation of new skills on top of this basic information.

Also, the list of states that have accepted this plan has surprised me, both in the amount of states working towards this plan and which states have already joined this partnership. After examining this website, this partnership and mission makes sense that students will need specific skills that will impact their potential in the future workforce. However, only a handful of states have accepted this plan and are working to change their instruction. I was also surprised that New York was not one of the states that is on this list. Teaching in New York, I believed this state to be on the forefront of new methods and ideas in technology, however, they are not part of this partnership. Granted some of the ideas that are found on this site such as technology becoming commonplace and life skills have gained popularity in recent years, yet we still are not a supporting member state. This is rather surprising.

Overall, I find most of the information to pertinent and realistic to what schools may need to prepare our students. The only issue I have is the underlying assumption that this will be an easy change. I felt like this website portrayed these ideas as the fix all for education and the workforce today. While these ideas are really great and well thought out, I foresee some pushback from many different arenas, particularly those that still embrace the traditional methods of teaching. Unfortunately conflict is common when new methods gain popularity and are used more readily in the classroom.

Overall, this plan holds some implications for both students and educators alike. First, for this plan to be effective there must be a retooling of the curriculum. Currently, much of the instruction in schools is based on a traditionally based method that focuses on teacher based instruction and core subject areas. If utilizing this plan correctly, teachers need to find a way to bring increased life skills, technology and collaboration into each lesson providing essential knowledge and lifelong skills for each and every student. This means a lot of work for educators and school systems, but work that could be widely useful to all students.

References

Partnership for 21st Century Skills. www.21stcenturyskills.org, Information retrieved from website January 25, 2010.

Partnership for 21st Century Skills. (n.d.). A report and mile guide for 21st century skills.
Washington DC: Retrieved from

Blog Use in the Classroom Environment

When examining this week’s content, I began to examine how I would use a blog in my own classroom and identified a few ways blogging could help my students to be successful. My current classroom is at the ninth and tenth grade level teaching global studies in New York. Overall, I believe that blogging is an excellent addition to my classroom and can benefit my student’s ways I had previously not considered.

The first way I would use a blog in my classroom in to create a teacher blog posting classroom information for students and parents to access any time a computer is available. I plan to incorporate class rules, the class syllabus and current homework assignments. This way the students always have a way to find out their assignment, teacher expectations or additional resources. One of the biggest issues I still encounter is the students claiming they did not know about an assignment or a particular due date. By having the information always available and updated this will eliminate any chance the student did not know what was expected of them (Richardson, 2006, p.21). Also, at any time parents could access class information eliminating many possible classroom issues. Once a teacher provides the opportunity for parents to become involved in the classroom, the student’s grades will often improve as there is another adult closely monitoring student progress.

Secondly, at specific times during the school year I would like to post discussion topics for the students to comment upon. Many of these topics will be open-ended opinion questions where there is not a single correct answer and the students will gain credit from participating. This use of a blog serves to promote critical and analytical thinking, strong skills that can be used throughout the students lives (Richardson, 2006, p.20). The students will have to work to find an answer and will be expected to compare and contrast their thoughts to other student’s opinions (Laureate Education, “Spotlight on Technology”, 2008). Using a blog as a format for discussion I can further benefit my class by allowing all students to provide an opinion about a topic and participate in a discussion we could not work into the finite time in class.

Also, I would like to have the students create their own blogs on a topic in history. Rather than creating a boring essay or PowerPoint presentation the students could create a multimedia presentation that could be viewed and commented on by the teacher, other students and people outside of the school. The students not only learn and research this material but rather they become a part of the scholarly work available on the Internet. This blog allows students to interact with each other about their topic and showcase their work in a meaningful way. As a teacher I could easily establish a RSS feed to an aggregator account monitoring all of the student’s blogs ensuring the information posted stays on our selected topic and is academically based work.

One major issue that I see with the use of blogs in the classroom is many of these blogs are blocked through the school security system. Many of these sights are considered to be personal information and the schools have deemed much of the information to be inappropriate for the students to view. Instead of having the teachers monitor what the students are working on, they have simply eliminated access to all blogs and a great source of information. This specific rule can be changed and blogs can be viewed; yet to accomplish this task a solid game plan needs to be established to appropriate student use of the Internet. I could overcome this challenge by using an RSS feed to an aggregator account and monitoring what the students post on their personal blog (Richardson, 2006, p.71). Also, by providing parents with the links to their child’s blog, I have another adult closely monitoring the progress of each student. Finally I could have the students sign an acceptable use form outlining the expectations of using school technology.

A second issue that needs to be addressed is the difference between academic and socially based work. The students must understand that other people outside of their peers are able to see their work so proper grammar and format are essential. In class I will overcome this challenge by teaching what is considered to be correct grammar and how blogs are different from the language used in instant messages and text messaging (Laureate Education Inc., “Spotlight on Technology”, 2008). By explaining to my students that everyone can see their work, this issue should take care of itself, as students will work harder if they know others will see the final product.

Blogs are an excellent tool that is often underused in a classroom. Yet the benefits of blogging are real and allow the students to create an authentic project that can be viewed by others outside. Blogs provide a great way to share ideas a shrink space between people both inside and outside of the school (Laureate Education Inc., “Technology and Society”, 2008). The students are able to participate in a different type of learning experience while gaining skills that can be used later in their lives.

References

Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2008). [DVD]. “Technology and
Society”. Baltimore, MD.

Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2008). [DVD]. “Spotlight on
Technology: blogging in the classroom”. Baltimore, MD.

Richardson, W. (2006). Blogs, wikis, podcasts, and other powerful web tools for
classrooms. (2nd ed.) Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.

Just a beginning blogger

I have created this account to experience all that blogging has to offer. I know it doesn't have much to offer currently, however this will soon change.

I will posting throughout my master's class Understanding the Impact of Technology on Education, Work and Society 6710D-1 that I am currently taking at Walden University. I look forward to talking with everyone in the future.

Happy Learning!!

Randy