A Look at Partnership for 21st Century Skills

As an educator I am constantly recreating my curriculum delivery methods and techniques in which to evaluate my students in an effort to help further familiarize my students with 21st century technology skills. After perusing http://www.21stcenturyskills.org/index.php , a website entitled Partnership for 21st Century Skills, I was further enlightened as to how critical teaching technology tools is becoming to our nation’s future. According to Partnership for 21st Century Skills, “Current 21st century tools include computers, networking and other technologies, plus audio, video, and other media and multimedia tools.” (Partnership for 21st Century Skills)

After spending some time on the website several thoughts came to mind. One, why is my school and state not a member of the partnership? I feel we should be. This site is jam packed with brilliant thought, research based strategies, implementation ideas, etc. The website boasts a well thought out and organized set of student outcomes and support systems. Some of the outcomes included, Flexibility and Adaptability, Initiative and Self Direction, Learning and Innovation, Information, Media, and Technology Skills, and Core Subjects and 21st Century Themes. (Partnership Website) All of these are critical skills to becoming, as Dr. Dede puts it, “fluent in a virtual literacy.” (Laureate Education, 2008) Two, I was pleased with all of the emphasis placed on diversity within the Partnership for 21st Century Skill’s framework. Our nation operates on a global scale now, not simply a national scale. Our students need to learn to appreciate and respect other cultures because most current day work environments are a smorgasbord of ethnicities.

I was surprised by the long list of businesses involved with this website. Businesses such as Walt Disney, Verizon, and LEGO were unexpected members. I equally surprised at how short the list was of states that were members of the Partnership for 21st Century Skills; I envisioned a much longer list. To reiterate, it was disappointing that my own home state of Texas was not on the list.

One aspect of the website I did have some disagreement with was the fact that there seemed to be more emphasis placed on subjects such as Global Awareness, and Civic and Health literacy than there was on subjects such as history and math. While subjects like Global Awareness are unquestionably important, I feel one must still have a solid background in history, English, and social studies to fully appreciate the freedoms and technological innovations we enjoy today.

What implications does that leave for me, as a teacher, and my students? As an educator, I have the responsibility to step up the technology used in my classroom. My students need to be expected to use it more as a tool for things such as research, creativity, communication, etc. It will be my job to guide them through the processes of how to accomplish these tasks while acting as a facilitator in an effort to aid them in becoming, “self-directed learners.” (Partnership Website)

References:

Laureate Education, Inc., (Producer). 2008. Technology interfaces [Motion Picture]. Understanding the Impact of Technology on Education, Work, and Society. Baltimore: Author

Partnership for 21st Century Skills. (n.d.). A report and mile guide for 21st century skills. Washington DC: Author. Retrieved from http://www.21stcenturyskills.org/downloads/P21_Report.pdf

Website: http://www.21stcenturyskills.org/index.php

Incorporating Blogging into the Classroom

Teaching first grade is a wonderful experience; students are just learning how to express themselves through writing. Incorporating a blog in my classroom has the potential to be a positive writing tool for my young authors. Due to it being early in the year and our writing pieces being very short, I would like to begin blogging by simply creating a classroom blog, open to parents to showcase their student’s writing. I feel this would be a great tool to use in fostering confidence in their writing abilities while teaching them about the concept of writing for an audience.
As the year progresses, it would be exciting to allow students to communicate through a blog with students from another district, state or country. Here they could compare what they were learning, how their school days compare, etc. It will be interesting to see how this plays out. Any experienced classroom bloggers out there who would like to share some tips?

Hello,
My name is Allison; I am a first grade ESL (English as a Second Language) teacher currently working on my MS in Education with a specialization in Integrating Technology in the Classroom. The class I am currently taking is serving as my initiation into the world of blogging!
Living in southern Texas, close to the Texas-Mexico border, many native Spanish speaking students come into my classroom. I am constantly on the lookout for new and exciting technology applications, websites and tools I can use with my non native English speaking students. The purpose behind my blog is to invite you to share your ideas and experiences utilizing technology with these students while helping me with my first blog attempt. Any new ideas would be greatly appreciated.

I would like to begin by sharing a neat application I ran across on a blog I read last night. The application is called WordMagnets; it is a great way for kids to manipulate text on interactive white boards. For more information on this tool, visit Nik’s blog at http://nikpeachey.blogspot.com/2009/10/revising-short-texts-and-syntax-on-iwb.html . His blog includes a link to the application, description of the apllication and a video showing how to use it. Thanks, Nik!

I used the application today in my classroom, it was a hit. Instead of simply writing a morning message, my students had to unscramble a previously written message. Engagement was significantly increased!