21st Century Skills

Over the past few days I have spent some time looking at the Partnership for 21st Century Skills website (http://www.21stcenturyskills.org/). I found the site both informative and useful. I had no idea that an organization like this existed. On their website they state that their mission is to "Serve as a catalyst to position 21st century skills at the center of US K-12 education by building collaborative partnerships among education, business, community and government leader (http://www.21stcenturyskills.org/). What surprised me the most was the states that are already participating with this site as P21 Leadership States. I would have expected large states with major metropolitan areas to be leading this initiative, but that is not the case. South Dakota, Wisconsin, and West Virginia are among participants, to name a few.

The site was easily navigable and I especially liked the "Articles of Interest" section. I could easily see new and relevant articles as well as discussions and videos. I also liked the section on 21st century student outcomes and support systems (http://www.21stcenturyskills.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=254&Itemid=120). I agree with the framework they illustrated and I found the graphic easy to understand. I liked how the user can click on each separate area to get finer details about what each category should encompass. I did not encounter anything on the site that I disagreed with.

I think this site implies what many of us already know, technology must be implemented in all classrooms, in various and creative ways. Students require these skills to successfully enter the workforce and it is our responsibility as educators to ensure that our students acquire these skills before leaving high school. As a contemporary educator I will be expected to bring these skills to my students. Depending on the district I ultimately end up working in, I may or may not have the support and funding I need to do this. Either way, it will still be my responsibility to bring as much new technology to my students as possible, sometimes using creative means to make sure my students get what they need.

Reference:

http://www.21stcenturyskills.org/

Classroom blogs

Although I do not have a class of my own yet, I am certified to teach high school biology. With this in mind, I have been thinking about ways I could incorporate a blog into my (hypothetical) classroom.

One idea I thought might be interesting for the students would be during the ecology unit. Part of the the unit focuses on invasive species. In New York state these include the Gypsy moth and a Purple Loosestrife, among many others. I would like to have my ninth grade biology class set up a blog describing different invasive species, where they are found, what they look like, where they came from, etc... They could even include pictures. They could then post their ideas about how to control some of the pests. Ideally they would get comments both on their ideas and from people in other areas sharing their local invasive species. In this way the students would see that invasive species are a global problem, most often created by us. It would be interesting for them to see if some of our native plants and animals are considered pests in other parts of the world (rabbits in Australia?) and it would also give them a broader sense of the impact we are having on our environment.

I think this blog activity would benefit the students because it gives them the opportunity to use technology to do something different (Laureate,2008) not just something they normally do but in a different format. The opportunity to communicate with students around the world is invaluable and something I believe most students will get excited about. 97% of students feel that the use of technology is important in education (Richardson, 2006) and blogs are a great way to use this technology to benefit the students and to do something different than what they are used to.

References:

Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer).(2008). Program Two. Evolution of technology and pedagogy.[Motion Picture]. Understanding the impact of technology on education, work, and society. Baltimore: Author

Richardson, W. (2006). Blogs, wikis, podcasts, and other powerful web tools for classrooms (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.

Getting There...

Well, over the last few days I have been exploring more blogs and viewing some of my peers' blogs. As a graduate student at Walden University, my class is creating their own blogs so it's been fun and informative seeing what everyone has created. I am getting more comfortable with the whole blogging experience, I just signed my blog up for an RSS feed and I'm pretty sure I did it correctly, so that was a big step for me!

First time with a blog

Earlier this week I had my first experience with blogging! I was a little intimidated but decided to give it a try. As a new teacher I am exploring different things I can use in my classroom even though I am just substituting right now. I thought it would be good to get ideas so when I do have my own classroom I will be ready to go. I have heard of blogging becoming more popular in classrooms and I think it is a great activity for students. I am hoping to be comfortable enough with them by the time I get my own classroom to use them.