Partnership for 21st Century SkillsWebsite

When I began my career in a very small rural school district the middle school I teach at had a grand total of maybe seven computers.  The district was working on getting more, and we were aware that we were behind in terms of technology, but the situation didn’t seem urgent.  That was over ten years ago.  Now, although we have far more computers, we still don’t have enough and the situation definitely seems urgent.  The transformation education has gone through in the last decade in terms of technology is astounding.  According to a Businessweek.com article the changes technology will bring in the next decade will be even greater (Hof, 2007).  Whether you are a new teacher or one who, like me, was teaching before computers were readily available in schools, the task of preparing our students for an ever evolving future is at times intimidating.  The rapid pace of change creates a great deal of uncertainty simply because it is hard to prepare our students for the future when our ideas of what the future will look like are changing so quickly.  One thing that is certain is that educators need to do all they can to incorporate technology into their classroom and help students acquire the skills that will make them successful in the 21^st century.  The question is, what are 21^st century skills?

 I was recently introduced to The Partnership for 21st Century Skills , or P21, website, and I was a little overwhelmed but also impressed.  At first the site is intimidating as it presents a great deal of information, and it is hard to know where to start. After browsing through the site and learning how to navigate, it became easier to absorb the site’s information.  First, and maybe most importantly, P21 identifies the skills essential to students in order to be successful in the 21^st century.  The skills framework diagram does a great job of presenting the big idea to more visual learners like myself, and the 4Cs (critical thinking, collaboration, communication, and creativity) are right in line with what Dr. Thornburg also describes as essential skills for the 21^st century.  As I said before the amount of information is almost overwhelming so it might be helpful to start with your own content field on the 21^st Century Skills Maps at The Partnership for 21st Century Skills - Publications.  Once I was able to narrow the scope of information presented it was much easier to digest. 

            Many educators may view this site and see it as the next item on a never ending list of new strategies, or simply, more work.  To be honest, that was my first reaction.  After taking a closer look at the content skills maps though, I was pleasantly surprised to find that in many ways my department at my school is already on the right track.  As long as a school has adequate technology resources this site provides a useful map for using that technology to prepare students for the future.  The real challenge is teaching 21^st century skills in a school that simply does not possess 21^st century technology.   As an example of how far schools often lag behind the rest of society in terms of technology the article “The new literacies” points out that the average student spends 27 hours per week online at home while only spending 15 minutes online per week at school (Miners & Pascopella, 2007).  The P21 website does a good job of identifying essential skills and providing strategies for increasing that 15 minutes of technology time with a school’s existing resources.

^References

Hof, R. (2007, August 20). The end of work as you know it. Businessweek.com. Retrieved January, 30,

2011 from http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/07

_34/b4047426.htm?chan=search

^{Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2010). Program number 11: Skills for the 21st century} 

^{[DVD]. Understanding the impact of technology on education, work, and society.}

^{Baltimore, MD: Author.}

^{Miners, Z., & Pascopella, A. (2007).The new literacies. District Administration, 43(10), 26–34.}

Blogs in the Classroom

I am somewhat nervous about this post as I fear that many of my new ideas for incorporating technology into my classroom are not the least bit new to more tech-savvy teachers.  With that said, the question of how, and why, might I use blogging in my 8^th grade Humanities classroom has been asked.  Blogging actually can fulfill part of Washington State’s Social Studies assessment requirements.  One of the requirements is that students present their project to a “real world” audience.  In other words, the project must be shared with community members and/or educators other than just the classroom teacher.  Using blogs to post student projects presents their work to an unlimited real world audience.  Blogs though, would provide more benefits than just showcasing student work.

One benefit of blogs in the classroom is increased motivation.  We all have those students who are intrinsically motivated.  They will give their best effort no matter the situation or assignment.  On the other hand, we all have students who can use extra motivation from time to time.  The knowledge that their work will be posted for others to not only see, but critique, can often provide this extra motivation.   Also, blogs are a form of social networking and I am quickly discovering that any assignment that has social networking involved sends student interest and motivation through the roof.  It would be hard to argue that students don’t work harder on assignments they enjoy.

Receiving feedback from outside the classroom is another benefit blogs can provide.  One of our assessment projects requires students to solicit input from community members about a proposal the class has made.  If necessary, students need to revise their proposal based on the feedback they receive.  In the past, soliciting community input proved to be a challenge.  Blogs would make this process far more streamlined and efficient.

Blogs, like many new technologies, are very intimidating for older teachers like me.  The entire reason I chose a specialization in incorporating technology into the classroom is because if I am going to call myself a teacher, I can’t let my own fears get in the way of providing my students with the best education possible.  What I am discovering along the way is that delving into the world of technology is not nearly as intimidating as I originally thought.

The Great Unknown?

Yes, I know.  The blog name doesn't make any sense.  I have spent the majority of my life playing in the wilds of Washington, Alaska, and Montana.  It may come as a surprise, but I find being in the wilderness of these states is far more comfortable than delving into the dark mysteries of...  the technology frontier.  Currently I am enrolled at Walden University studying methods of incorporating technology into my 8th grade Humanities classroom.  This is one of my first steps in trying to catch up to my students' level of computer abilities.  So, off we go into the great unknown.  Well, at least it is unknown to me.