This week I have navigated through the website The Partnership for 21st Century Skills. This is a national organization that advocates 21st 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 21st 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 21st 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
Partnership for 21st Century Skills. (n.d.). Route 21. Retrieved from January 27, 2011
It seems that lack of Internet, or computer time in general, is a common theme among teachers. So the question would have to be, how do we get more computers and other technological tools into classrooms? What would be your response to this question? In my opinion, this has to be a state or federal concern before the problem will even begin to be addressed. I would be in favor of using some of the money that is currently being put in to fund state testing.
ReplyDeleteThere is a lot of information on the website. So much in fact that they may need to make several subletting sites. I showed this website to my school Headmaster and he was overwhelmed like I was. His exact words were "what should I read", once he said that I knew that I was not the only person struggling to understand all of the content.
ReplyDeleteThe Route 21 link is a very good resource link.
I also agree with you that Language Arts and Social Studies can bring in technology easier than other content areas. I teach those subjects and everyday we usually have some type of supplemental resource used in technology.
I also wonder if there are also different ways to help students create projects who lack internet access at home? I suggested that mine use the library, and even that proved to be a difficult task.
The skills are necessary for students to work in the real world and be functioning members of society.