This week I explored The Partnership for the 21st Century Skills website (http://www.21stcenturyskills.org/index.php).
I have found that it offers a wealth of information. It is a very user friendly site that allows the navigator to work with ease. I was excited to see that they provide a list for school districts to foster training and professional development. I think often times school systems say they want to prepare their students to be successful out in the world and this would be one way to train the teachers to be effective in this quest.
I was surprised that there are not many states that have signed on board for this mission, mine included. Although Georgia is not a shock to me (we are usually the last to catch on to things, the lack of California was a surprise. Often times many things that out county and state adopt has first been adopted by California. I was also surprised that these skills were mentioned along with the No Child Left Behind Act. Often times this piece of legislature is viewed as curriculum being the sole goal and I was interested to see that you are able to tie in the 21st Century life skills along with the curriculum. I think it shows that you can still be held accountable while teaching important skills for success.
I plan on implicating this in the classroom by using some of the ideas expressed under the tools and resources. It provides websites that tie in the curriculum and the skills it touches on for success in the future. I feel that if I am able to incorporate the 21st century skills into my lessons, then my students will gain not only knowledge to help them currently but also knowledge to help them in the future.
I think it is a good site that provides resources for schools to provide professional development for their teachers. That is a huge factor that seems to have a lot do with teachers not using technology in their classrooms. If teachers do not know how to use the various forms of technology, how can they teach their students to use these resources? They simply cannot!
ReplyDeleteI also thought it was great that these skills for the 21st century are able to be integrated with what we are already required to teach.
This site is a nice starting point for those who wish to educate their students on skills they will need for the future. There is a lot of information that is beneficial on ways to teach these skills and how to assess them.
Amanda-
ReplyDeleteMy state (Oregon) is not on their either, but we've always kind did our own thing anyways. Hopefully soon we will too become associated with 21st Century Skills. NCLB looks as though it is fading fast. I do not know how they are going to stay a valuable education tool if they do not keep up with the changing times. Maybe 21st Century Skills is on to something and the government needs to change how it views public education.
I agree that we need to be informed about the current technology to teach our students about 21st century skills. Aaron, I think our government needs to investigate the impact that the 21s century skills would have on our student and how it would prepare them.
ReplyDeleteThe major complaint about government and education is that there is just too much red tape to go through in order to get any done these days! If we are hoping to have an impact in the classroom anytime soon we cannot expect our government leaders to get it done in a quick fashion.
ReplyDeleteI agree that the more we focus on the core skills & incorporating the technology the better prepared our students are going to be for the future. I thought that the diagram for the 21st Century skills was very telling with the foundation of the rainbow as the core subjects (especially since our assessments put so much focus on the content) and then the skills building out from there. I think we need to focus on not only teaching the content but the skills. I also wasn't overly surprised that Georgia wasn't a member although we do have a technology competency part of our certification process. Several years ago I complete the portfolio "test out" option with the technology requirement rather than completing the staff development and at the time it seemed that Georgia was focusing a bit more on improving technology. Today, it seems that we are focusing more and more on cost saving and education cut backs and I fear that many of those cutbacks will come in the form of technology.
ReplyDeleteMy state of Maryland is not on this site either. I believe that site does a great job of laying out the key elements that students will need to have to succeed in the 21st century. I just hope that the government, computer companies, and state educational systems can get it together and work for the benefits of the children and the teachers who are trying to education them to succeed in the world. The question that I have is with all of these computer companies members of this organization where are the benefits for the schools? Why do we still have schools with outdated technology?
ReplyDelete