This week, I’ve been exploring the Partnership for 21st Century Skills website. The belief that today’s students need to be educated with the understanding that our modern world is very integrated and education has to evolve to better prepare students for this world is becoming a part of my philosophy as a teacher. In an interview about the changing workplace of the 21st century, Dr. Chris Dede discusses how the students we are graduating are heading into a world in which they must compete not only globally against other workers but against the emerging technologies themselves (Laureate, 2008). How are we in education preparing these students? Are the methods used to teach us going be enough to get our students ready?
About the site
This is really quite a website, worth far more than just a quick glance. The Partnership for 21st Century Skills is an organization dedicated to making our students literate. As the site illustrates, it was once essential for a student to learn to merely read and to sign his name. Then it became more important to become literate in other skills as math, science, and history. In today’s information age, it is now essential for a student to be literate in technology as well. I am so excited to have been shown this place in which educators can learn about methods for helping our learners become literate in these areas beyond the traditional “three R’s.” This partnership between businesses and educators provides curriculum, ideas, methods, strategies, and resources for teachers to integrate their traditional core subjects with the emerging technologies and interlink them with interdisciplinary themes such as Civics, Health Literacy, Economic and Entrepreneurial Literacy, Global Awareness, and Environmental Literacy.
I was so excited to find a site to help me. I know as an English teacher that I have to help my students become better communicators. I also know that for today’s student, that goes beyond reading a novel and writing an essay. I believe that I need to help my students learn to tap into the global world of telecommunications. I also need to help my students connect the things we do in an English class to other disciplines and relate them to this “flat” world in which we live (Friedman, 2005). Partnership for 21st Century Skills is a treasure trove of information, ideas, and resources for how I can better do this in my classroom.
The Wow Factor
I have to admit, this website really surprised me. I have been concerned for some time now that I need to do some things differently in my classroom to better prepare my students. I need to make my classroom more of a 21st century class. I just wasn’t sure how to do it. This site has shown me that I don’t have to wait for my state or my district to adopt a new curriculum or incorporate a new plan. The ideas and tools are right here at my fingertips. Score another one for the World Wide Web. Like I said, we are a global community.
A big surprise for me was the limited number of states that have gotten on board and joined the partnership. My own state is one of those yet to join this partnership. I was taken aback by this. What was even more of a surprise to me was many states much bigger than mine with far greater financial resources than ours that have not become part of the partnership.
On a more positive note, the biggest surprise for me was the accessibility to the information and resources. There is so much for a teacher on this website. Many, no, most websites offering fewer resources with less affectability tend to charge teachers for the things they offer. The Partnership provides the cornucopia of products without even asking the educator to become a member of anything. That is refreshing as well as a godsend.
I should say that I generally agree with so much of what I see on this site. I do have to question the idea that we need to completely leave the concepts developed when our culture was more agrarian. For starters, I believe we need to keep in mind that there are still the more agricultural communities and cultures. I do believe that these 21st century skills can aid them; we just need to be mindful that not all students will be going into a financial or computer industry after high school.
My Students and Me
Our students are different than we were twenty years ago. I was recently in a meeting in which a fellow educator commented that students aren’t any different today than we were as students. I understand what he was talking about; he was referring to discipline and classroom behavior along with teachers being prepared for their students. However, when you think about it from this 21st century frame of mind, I would say students are very different. Our students today know how to work a computer and surf the web before they can even read. My own children are a perfect example. Every thing they do seems to be multitasking with the latest technologies. Even students who struggle with reading a novel read and comprehend vast amounts on the web (Miners and Pascopella, 2007). Partnership for 21st Century Skills has great implications for my students and me. This is literally a clearinghouse of information for educators. I have instant, free access to ideas, suggestions, resources, and strategies along with a curriculum to help me reach these contemporary students in my classroom. Not only will this help me and make me a better teacher, but by becoming better armed as I enter my class, I will be making my students more rounded and better prepared when they leave the high school.
References:
Friedman, T. (2005, April 3). It's a flat world, after all. The New York Times. Retrieved January 18, 2010, from http://www.nytimes.com
Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2008). [DVD]. Understanding the Impact of Technology on Education, Work, and Society, “The Changing Work Environment: Part 2.” Baltimore, MD.
Miners, Z., & Pascopella, A. (2007). The new literacies. District Administration, 43(10), 26–34.
About the site
This is really quite a website, worth far more than just a quick glance. The Partnership for 21st Century Skills is an organization dedicated to making our students literate. As the site illustrates, it was once essential for a student to learn to merely read and to sign his name. Then it became more important to become literate in other skills as math, science, and history. In today’s information age, it is now essential for a student to be literate in technology as well. I am so excited to have been shown this place in which educators can learn about methods for helping our learners become literate in these areas beyond the traditional “three R’s.” This partnership between businesses and educators provides curriculum, ideas, methods, strategies, and resources for teachers to integrate their traditional core subjects with the emerging technologies and interlink them with interdisciplinary themes such as Civics, Health Literacy, Economic and Entrepreneurial Literacy, Global Awareness, and Environmental Literacy.
I was so excited to find a site to help me. I know as an English teacher that I have to help my students become better communicators. I also know that for today’s student, that goes beyond reading a novel and writing an essay. I believe that I need to help my students learn to tap into the global world of telecommunications. I also need to help my students connect the things we do in an English class to other disciplines and relate them to this “flat” world in which we live (Friedman, 2005). Partnership for 21st Century Skills is a treasure trove of information, ideas, and resources for how I can better do this in my classroom.
The Wow Factor
I have to admit, this website really surprised me. I have been concerned for some time now that I need to do some things differently in my classroom to better prepare my students. I need to make my classroom more of a 21st century class. I just wasn’t sure how to do it. This site has shown me that I don’t have to wait for my state or my district to adopt a new curriculum or incorporate a new plan. The ideas and tools are right here at my fingertips. Score another one for the World Wide Web. Like I said, we are a global community.
A big surprise for me was the limited number of states that have gotten on board and joined the partnership. My own state is one of those yet to join this partnership. I was taken aback by this. What was even more of a surprise to me was many states much bigger than mine with far greater financial resources than ours that have not become part of the partnership.
On a more positive note, the biggest surprise for me was the accessibility to the information and resources. There is so much for a teacher on this website. Many, no, most websites offering fewer resources with less affectability tend to charge teachers for the things they offer. The Partnership provides the cornucopia of products without even asking the educator to become a member of anything. That is refreshing as well as a godsend.
I should say that I generally agree with so much of what I see on this site. I do have to question the idea that we need to completely leave the concepts developed when our culture was more agrarian. For starters, I believe we need to keep in mind that there are still the more agricultural communities and cultures. I do believe that these 21st century skills can aid them; we just need to be mindful that not all students will be going into a financial or computer industry after high school.
My Students and Me
Our students are different than we were twenty years ago. I was recently in a meeting in which a fellow educator commented that students aren’t any different today than we were as students. I understand what he was talking about; he was referring to discipline and classroom behavior along with teachers being prepared for their students. However, when you think about it from this 21st century frame of mind, I would say students are very different. Our students today know how to work a computer and surf the web before they can even read. My own children are a perfect example. Every thing they do seems to be multitasking with the latest technologies. Even students who struggle with reading a novel read and comprehend vast amounts on the web (Miners and Pascopella, 2007). Partnership for 21st Century Skills has great implications for my students and me. This is literally a clearinghouse of information for educators. I have instant, free access to ideas, suggestions, resources, and strategies along with a curriculum to help me reach these contemporary students in my classroom. Not only will this help me and make me a better teacher, but by becoming better armed as I enter my class, I will be making my students more rounded and better prepared when they leave the high school.
References:
Friedman, T. (2005, April 3). It's a flat world, after all. The New York Times. Retrieved January 18, 2010, from http://www.nytimes.com
Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2008). [DVD]. Understanding the Impact of Technology on Education, Work, and Society, “The Changing Work Environment: Part 2.” Baltimore, MD.
Miners, Z., & Pascopella, A. (2007). The new literacies. District Administration, 43(10), 26–34.
Your post was very thoughtful and articulate. I agree with your insight that when it comes to creating a 21st century class we don’t have to wait for our states or districts to adopt new curriculum plans; as educators, it is also our responsibility to infuse the necessary skills into our classrooms. You mention that “we just need to be mindful that not all students will be going into a financial or computer industry after high school”, yet I feel that technology must become a foundational skill set for all students, regardless of their career path (Rogers, 2010).
ReplyDeleteFor example, in regards to classroom management styles, we all have something in place and typically, we are all aimed at the same goals that revolve around social responsibility – empathy, kindness, respect for self and others, setting goals, sustainability, etc. However, we don’t all teach those goals the same way and perhaps we don’t even teach them explicitly; many of us integrate those, as my students call them “life lessons”, into our book talks, class discussions, etc. Of course, we would be hard pressed (I hope) to find an educator that doesn’t focus on these issues in some way, shape or form. Along the same thinking, any educator who is not embracing the need for 21st century learning and the integration of it into curriculum risks overlooking foundational structures each child must have in place.
I feel that right now many of us are at the same place with the integration of 21st century skills within our classroom – we know they are vitally important and we are determined to make them part of our classroom foundation, but we are all coming at the goals in different ways. I find it valuable that the Partnership identifies six key elements of a 21st century education (core subject, 21st century content, learning and thinking skills, ICT literacy, life skills and 21st century assessments) as it gives us a place to start (Partnership for 21st Century Skills, 2004). Perhaps it is easier for educators to “buy in” to social responsibility skills because we can see how they impact individuals and society when the skills are lacking. Does everyone yet see the impact of lacking technology skills in society? In our future society?
Of course, truly it is the combination of these skill sets that is vitally important for our future. In a recent press release dated January 25, 2010, Microsoft and the Corporation for National and Community Service announced six schools to participate in the START initiative (Service and Technology Academic Resource Team); “The initiative recognizes the leadership shown by students and teachers in schools across America who are working together in meaningful ways to revitalize learning, schools and communities through the use of technology,” (PRNewswire, 2010). With initiatives such as this making strides, it no longer becomes a “which comes first” question – social responsibility and technology do fit together nicely and must be integrated into all facets of learning regardless of content area, curriculum standards or career path.
Luckily, for your students and mine, we ARE invested in their 21st century learning; how do we get everyone else on board?
Thanks for sharing your insight!
Melissa
*References to follow*
Sorry, I ran out of character space.
ReplyDelete~Melissa
Resources:
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
PRNewswire. (January 25, 2010). Microsoft and the Corporation for National and Community Service Launch New Initiative to Promote Student Leadership in the Classroom. Washington. Retrieved from http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/microsoft-and-the-corporation-for-national-and-community-service-launch-new-initiative-to-promote-student-leadership-in-the-classroom-82586117.html January 31, 2010.
Rogers, W. (January 27, 2010). http://mrrogersclassblog.blogspot.com/ “Bringing the classroom into the 21st century”. Retrieved from http://mrrogersclassblog.blogspot.com/2010/01/bringing-classroom-into-21st-century.html January 31, 2010.
Wesley,
ReplyDeleteYou had some really good ideas from your blog about the Partnership for 21st Century Skills. The education of our students has evolved in the 21st century. According to Dr. Thornburg, students need to focus on S.T.E.M. skills in order to have careers that will allow our country to advance with jobs and technology (Laureate , 2008). Even though not all of our students will take the college bound road we are still preparing them to use technology for every day needs of communicating.
As for your students and you, there is so much of a difference from when we were younger. Our children have so much technology in their lives and so many ways to communicate in a quick manner. The more we use this technology the more comfortable students will become using these tools. When students are finding answers, allow them to think analytically and critically to elaborate their thought process. This allows students to be more creative with their work and techniques. The article, "The New Literacies" mentions how student are spending most of their time on computers at home and not at school where they should be learning the proper way to use this tool. When at school, educators should be motivating students to think critically and analytically about information they found (Miners & Pascopella, 2007). The Partnership for 21st Century Skills is a great website to educate ourselves on how to bring technology into our classrooms. I plan on sharing this information from the website with my staff and administration to share the word.
References:
Miners, Z., & Pascopella, A. (2007). The new literacies. District Administration, 43(10), 26–34.
Understanding the Impact of Technology on Education, Work and Society . (2008) Skills for the 21st Century (Laureate Education, Inc., CD-ROM, 2008 release).
Take Care,
Alison Pietrzak
(7/8th grade Language Arts & Science)
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