Partnership for 21st Century Skills Overview

This week I have navigated through the website The Partnership for 21st Century Skills.  This is a national organization that advocates 21^st century readiness for all students.  It is a very informative and resourceful site for educators.  There is a lot of information available on this site however it is a little overwhelming.  There are many links on this page to go through. 

The Framework for 21st Century Learning “presents a holistic view of 21st century teaching and learning that combines a discrete focus on 21st century student outcomes with innovative support systems to help students master the multi-dimensional abilities required of them in the 21st century.”  It describes the specific skill students need to master to prepare them for the 21^st century.  As viewed below, the colorful top arcs are the student outcomes and the bottom arcs are the support systems. The Framework for 21st Century Learning does discuss students need the mastery of core subjects.  For students to be better prepared for today’s global economy they need all of the support systems to achieve the student outcomes.  Professional Developments are one o f the most important support systems.  Teachers need all the help and support they can get to help their students succeed and sometimes this is the most difficult support system.  The P21 website does have a place, Professional Development Affiliate Program, to help give teachers support to help them succeed in the classroom. 

Students need to be better prepared for their future and technology is their future. On the other hand, they still need the basic skills we learn in school. The most important skill is critical thinking and that can still be achieved in the “ordinary” education they receive.  It is difficult to add to the curriculum we are already expected to cover in our classes.  There are some subjects that can more easily adapt and add technology into the instruction.  English and Social Studies can add more use of technology into the instruction.  For me in my math classes, it seems to be more difficult. There are so many basics that need to be covered so the students can understand other topics. 

The Partnership for 21st Century Skills has a great link to Route 21. Route 21 breaks down many ways to learn about and to navigate around the website.  This website has many links to other teachers’ blogs and wikis.   These sites have wonderful ideas to use to help incorporate technology into the curriculum.  The support system is broken down into many categories to make looking for help and links easy to find.  Overall, there is a lot of information and it takes some time to navigate and become familiar with the website. 

I hope to learn a lot more information to make my classroom a more contemporary learning environment to help prepare my students for the future.  This website can help lead me in the right direction.  The implications that might arise are the lack of funding and internet access for many students.  Many students in my district lack at home internet access.  This will diminish the time they can spend on projects or anything else that needs internet access while not at school. 

References

Partnership for 21st Century Skills. (n.d.). Retrieved January 27, 2011 from http://www.p21.org/

Partnership for 21st Century Skills. (n.d.). Framework for 21^st Century Learning.  Retrieved

from January 27, 2011 http://www.p21.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=254&Itemid=119

Partnership for 21st Century Skills. (n.d.). Professional Development Affiliate Program.

Retrieved from January 27, 2011

http://www.p21.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=502&Itemid=187

Partnership for 21st Century Skills. (n.d.). Route 21. Retrieved from January 27, 2011

http://www.p21.org/route21/index.php

Using Blogs in the Classroom

The use of blogs could be very beneficial to the communication between students and teachers in a classroom.  In my high school math classes (geometry, algebra 2 and algebra 3), blogs could be difficult to integrate into use.  One of the main purposes of the blog could be as a form of class communication. The blog is a way to “communicate information about the class and to archive course materials” (Richardson, 2010, p. 21).  Students will be able to view all assignments and also can add comments if they have questions about the assignment.  Students would also be able to post some assignments to the blog for other students to view (Richardson, 2010, p. 22).  Students will be responsible to view a number of other students’ assignments and check their work and suggest what needs to be corrected.   Correcting other students work is beneficial and helpful in understanding the material.  Parents would also be able to view their children’s work to see the effort they are putting into the assignments.  Another advantage of using blogs would be for class discussions. Students who are having difficulty with the material could post questions that other students could answer for them. 

The blog would be a great way for the community to get into the classroom.  Those in the community would be able to view the blog and also comment.  Students and others could benefit from the communication back and forth with each other.  Many people in the community argue that schools are not doing what they should to prepare the students for the future.  This would enable them to “see” what is going on in the classrooms.  Also, students would be more careful in their work when they know that others are viewing their work besides the teacher.

The use of blogs would greatly enhance the lessons.  Students would be given the chance to have class discussions that usually do not get enough time during class time.  This would also be an advantage for students who are too shy to participate in class. Also, students would be able to “bounce” ideas off of each other.  Many times, students can explain topics in a way that other students can understand them easier.

The more I write about using blogs in the classroom, the more motivated I am to start using them.  Many students do not put their best effort into their work. If they know that others, including parents and other adults, are viewing it, this might encourage them to work harder in class.

Resources

Richardson, W. (2010). Blogs, wikis, podcasts, and other powerful web tools for classrooms (3^rd ed.).

            Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.

Welcome to my Blog

Hello, everyone.  This is my first experience with blogging.  I am very excited to begin to use this (new to me yet old to others) technology. 
As a high school math teacher, I am always looking for more exciting and new ideas to use in my classroom.  These blog is for teachers to bounce ideas off of each other so we can all make improvements in our classrooms.  Technology has advanced so much over the past few years and we need to prepare our students for this new world.  I am excited to learn how other educators use technology in their classrooms.