What is The Partnership for 21st Century Skills?

What are 21st century skills? According to The Partnership for 21st Century Skills, an advocacy group formed in 2002 through a joint effort by the United States Department of Education and technology business companies like Apple, Dell, and Microsoft, 21st century skills are the tools and knowledge that students need to be adept in, in order to be successful the 21st century. Specifically, the group feels that students need to be creative, innovative problem solvers with the ability to access and utilize information effectively through the use of technology and media. The group bases its framework around core academic subjects and believes that the enhancement of current curriculum with the skills and strategies of the 21st century will produce more capable and successful students, who will be better prepared to meet the challenges of a global society.

When I was first introduced to this site, about six months ago, I spent only a short period of time looking at the information contained on the website. My initial understanding of the partnership was that it was primarily supporting the use of technology in the classroom to aid in raising achievement levels. While this does hold true in the most general of senses, I have learned so much more about their true mission. As I began to look at the site, I was quite impressed. The partnership feels very strongly about the need to integrate technology into the classroom environment of all students. They believe that the experience of utilizing the available technologies of today will better prepare students for the global business communication world they will one day enter. I was pleasantly surprised to learn about the group's commitment to maintaining core subjects in education. Their vision seems to be that students will continue learning to become academic readers, writers, mathematicians, scientists, and historians, and will incorporate the present and emerging technologies to enhance that learning. The augmenting of that core curriculum with 21st century themes, like information, media and technology communication skills is a welcome and refreshing idea.

With so many exciting ideas and proposals to ready our students for the future of business and life, I was saddened, but not surprised, to see that so few states have begun implementing technology initiatives in public schools. With federally mandated testing creating such high-stakes situations for schools across the nation, the shift that the Partnership for 21st Century Skills is suggesting would be a radical transformation for many states and districts. It would require a great deal of investment from states and local school districts to effectively implement and integrate these standards and skills into the current curricula being used in public schools across the nation. This investment may, to some states, seem like to great a risk in the face of being labeled a failing school or district.

The implications for myself and my students are tremendous. As an educator, it will require me to invest my time learning about these new technologies, in order to be able to guide my students through their use. I will also, because of the technology availability challenges that I will face when implementing these skills, need to deepen my own problem solving skills to utilize technology effectively; using what I have available to me, and creating other lessons that instill the collaborative and communicative nature of the 21st century themes. Doing so will allow students to access the many technology skills they already posses to enhance their learning. It will empower students to think more creatively and more critically, a skill that is taught in few classes, and never tested or assessed. Infusing 21st century skills into core content areas gives students a greater opportunity and reason to utilize the knowledge they are gaining in those areas, and to deepen their understanding of not only its importance to them, but also of the content itself. Teaching these skills will help students become the creative and innovative problem solvers and communicators that the world of today (and tomorrow) requires.

While implementing the partnership's ideals is not an easy task, it is certainly one that we owe it to our students to pursue. They are, after all, the very people who will drive the innovation and advancement of the world we will live in tomorrow.

Balance

I have been so busy with my group's wiki page collaboration, as well as preparing to complete my discussion board posting, along with trying to wrap my mind around how I want to integrate blogs and wikis in my classroom, when I return to school next week! It has left me feeling almost paralyzed! With a four year old at home and so many things I feel like I need to be doing, I feel completely discombobulated and, frankly, worried about being able to do everything I need to do, and do it well.

How do I find a better balance? I am constantly feeling like I have to trade time with my family for the time I need to either complete my classwork, or to keep up with what I need to do to be effective in my building. Somewhere in there, I'd like to have time to do a few of the things that are relaxing and energizing to me, like my cross stitch, and personal novel reading.

I love what I do, and I never want to do anything different. It is my passion and, in my own opinion, what I was called to do. So, the question becomes, how do I find a better balance in my life, in order to be better to myself, my family, and my students?

Web page, Protopage, or Blog?

I have been doing a lot of thinking about how I would really like to use a blog in my classroom with my third grade students. I set up a classroom blog in November, but have yet to use it with my students in class. Until I read this week's reading, I thought that I only wanted to use my blog as a place to have students post writing pieces and respond to other student writing. I thought I might give them one writing topic as a class or have them work in small groups to post to the blog. I initially thought using a blog would be a simpler way for me to keep track of the writing that my students were doing, and an exciting way for students to complete some of the writing work that I needed them to do. However, as I began to think about the possibilities as brought to light in chapter two of the Richardson text (Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms), my mind literally began spinning about the ways that I could use my classroom blog with my students! Because I teach 3rd grade, I feel like my beginnings need to be linked to collaborative writing and sharing of ideas, using the blog as a classroom portal and information center for parents and students, and to allow for a place for student to reflect upon their learning and ask questions of myself or of other students. It is hard to even explain how excited I feel about getting my blog up and running for my classroom. I am truly thrilled about the possibilities and thinking that it will bring into my classroom!

The first thing I want to use my classroom blog for is create a classroom portal that will allow students to access daily assignments and learning resources (worksheets, examples, and study guides). I want a space to be able to help my students and parents find the information they need to complete the work that is necessary. Secondly, I want to provide a space for my students to reflect and comment on the learning and activities that we do in class. I usually find out far too late that my students have something really valuable to contribute to a discussion, or they have a terrific book or experience that would be great to include in our lessons. Several students have brought me ideas for our projects - after the project is complete. I would like a place for students to reflect on what we are doing, ask questions about things they want to know about, and add their own ideas to our classroom discussions and projects. I think the first true assignment I am going to ask students to complete will be about their own technology use. I realize that I know very little about the technology my students are familiar with. I would like to begin our technology journey together by learning about and sharing each of my student's expertise and experience with particular technologies. Any thoughts about what I could include in my portal page, my reflections postings, or in my technology discussion?

Welcome!

I am just getting started here, but I hope we can have some great conversations about integrating technology in the classroom and teaching in general! Check back soon for my first post!