Evaluating 21st Century Skills

Partnership for 21^st Century Skills

Reaction to the website: Wow! How have I never heard of this website?! There is an overwhelming abundance of information on this site. Without a ton of investigating, my first reaction is this is the kind of website you have to know what you are looking for before you try to tackle the website. Who are the authors of this site? What is their educational experience? What about their experience with technology?

Information on the site that surprised me or helped me develop a new understanding of issues surrounding the 21^st century skills: I absolutely love and agree with the implementation of the essential skills for success in today’s world (critical thinking, problem solving, communication, collaboration). I understand now how essential those skills really are. Students need to know more than what is in their textbooks. Their individual characters need to be stretched and grown as well.

I was surprised to find so many states committed to 21^st century standards. I was disappointed not to find my state as one of those states.

Information or opinions on the site that I disagree with along with an explanation why: This is the most difficult question to address because there is so much on the site I agree with. The website stated several content areas that were typically not emphasized in schools. The content areas included global awareness, financial and economic literacy, civic literacy, and health awareness. While the lack of content in those areas may be true for other schools, it is not true at the school I teach at. I would disagree and argue at my school those content areas are emphasized.

Implications for my students and for me as a contemporary educator: This is a website I will bookmark. The links under resources for educators appear to be very user friendly and would assist in my teaching as I try to educate my students on the latest and greatest 21^st century skills. This is a website I would consider sharing with the parents of my students, emphasizing how important these skills are. 

To Blog or Not To Blog... That is the question.

Grade Level: High School: Grades 9-12
Content Area: Special Education
Last year I started using a "classroom" Blog for the first time. To be honest, I only started one because our principal strongly suggest we do it and I like to follow the rules, most of the time. Last year I used my classroom Blog for a variety of purposes. First, I wanted to stay up to date on the latest technology. I was not entirely comfortable with Blogs and how to use them and I thought creating one would be the best way to learn. Secondly, I wanted my students to be up to date on the latest technology. I strive to make sure my students will be successful for life after high school and being able to successfully use technology is a skill that will make my students successful. The third thing I used my Blog for was a way to teach the proper way to communicate, both in writing/typing and on the Internet. I was able to teach (or remind) my students proper capitalization and punctuation. Text language is not appropriate for Blogging. "It is important to understand Blogging is different that texting" (Laureate Education, Inc., 2011). Finally, I used my Blog as a way to communicate with my students and as a way for my students to communicate with each other. I would post a weekly question. The questions were about anything from what we were studying in math to what their weekend plans were. I gave very few guidelines as to what the responses needed to look like. I wanted the students to be creative! "Creativity will be needed to apply the benefits of new technologies to education" (Laureate Education, Inc., 2011). The only requirements were the students had to respond to my question and appropriately comment on the response of one of their peers.
This year I would like to use my Blog for the same purposes. However, I would also like to do more. I do think Blogging should be used in the classroom and used to its fullest potential! This year I want to use Blogging as a way to learn with a greater community. I am in the brainstorming process of setting something up with the other special education teacher, hoping we will be able to figure out a way for our students to publish and share their writings with each other. The video, Spotlight on Technology, offers insight on why Blogs in the classroom are a great thing. Using Blogs in the classroom allows a teacher to teach his or her students how to respond appropriately to a question. Blogs make students more aware of editing. Finally, Blogs allow students to share their ideas with each other and build off of each other (Laureate Education, Inc., 2011). I hope my classroom Blog is able to impact and teach students many of those great insights.

References:

Laureate Education, Inc.(Producer). (2011) Spotlight on Technology

Laureate Education, Inc.(Producer). (2011) The Third Wave 

I Did It!

Although this is not my first Blog, I did learn how to use and create my first Blog ON-LINE. I use Google daily. I use Google multiple times a day. Not only do I use Google multiple times a day but I use massive amounts of technology multiple times a day. Seriously, where would we (or maybe just I) be without technology?!