"Partnership for 21st Century Skills" Website Review

In order for our children to become successful in today's technological and global society, their possession of 21st century skills is critical. For those who aren't familiar with the term "21st Century Skills", or are curious as to what constitutes as 21st Century Skills and how to teach them to our students, I encourage you to check out the "Partnership for 21st Century Skills" at http://www.21stcenturyskills.org/.

My first impression of this website was familiarity. Previously, I read the company's Mile Guide and found much of the information in this report located on the website. The ease of navigation on the website made locating the information I wanted to find quite simple. As I started to explore more, I began to realize how much valuable information about 21st century skills could be found on this site.

What really surprised and impressed me was the snap shots that accompanied many of the teaching techniques suggested to properly implement 21st century skills. I have always been a very visual learner and these clips helped to reinforce my understanding of the Mile Guide. Another surprise for me was only 10 states in the U.S. are participating with this type of education. If we want the US to excel in global business, why isn't all of the U.S. on board with this? I feel every state should embrace these practices and am pretty disappointed that my state (Maryland) is not on the list.

Just because Maryland has yet to participate in this way of teaching, that doesn't mean that I can't take some initiative in infusing this content with the core subjects assessed by my state. Seeing that I will be teaching second grade next year for the first time, I found the snapshot on ICT/Global Awareness particularly intriguing and would like to incorporate that in my teaching next year. If my students will, one day, work in a global economy, then I want to expose them to concepts like ICT/Global Awareness at a very early age. Having a clearer understanding of how to properly facilitate 21st century skills will help me effectively prepare my students for their future successes.

Classroom Blogs

Although I have yet to try to them in my second grade classroom, I believe that blogs can serve as good instructional tools across the curriculum. After reading chapter two of "Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts and other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms" by Will Richardson, I have learned several ways in which blogs can be effectively used to enhance classroom instruction. Due to their collaborative nature, blogs demand interaction between students and other members of soceity. Although my students are only in second grade, they are undoubtedly going to need this type of collaborative literacy in order to be successful later in life. As Will Richardson suggests, "It is never too early to start thinking about bringing primary sources into the classroom through the blog so students can ask questions and reflect on the answers." In preparing my students to write real and complex blogs, I must first teach them the basics of simple blogging. My ultimate goal is to teach my students the power of human connection. I believe that I can achieve this through using blogs in my classroom for various reasons.

As a second grade teacher, I am responsible for teaching all content areas. I think that blogs could serve as powerful tools for all subjects and that they would be rather easy to incorporate. I know that creativity will be needed in order for the blogging experience to be engaging and meaningful. First, I would like to create a blog to use as a class portal. This could serve as a powerful course management tool for all who are involved. This includes me, my students, parents, administrators, and other staff members in my building. I believe that this will make the class expectations very transparent and will clarify any misconceptions that could potentially hinder the success of my students. I would also like for my students to create their own blogs in order to share their creative writing pieces. This will allow them to have conversations with their readers and to reflect on the writing process. The more often they are able to be reflective and analyze their own work, the sooner they will be able to participate in "real" blogging.

Reference:

Richarson, W (2009). Blogs, wikis, podcasts and other powerful web tools tools for classrooms. Thousand Oaks, Ca: Corwin Press.

Welcome!

This blog has been created as part of my coursework at Walden University. I am currently pursuing a master's degree in Integrating Technology in the Classroom. It will serve as a place for me to reflect on my studies and my current teaching practices. Please feel free to share any ideas!