21st Century Resources

This week I spent some time exploring the Partnership for 21st Century Skills. This is a great site for educators to learn about various ways they can infuse the 21st century skills into their classroom. I really enjoyed looking through the "tools and resources" page for educators. Not only did they give an overview and description of the skills, but they provide resources to help implement the skills into the classroom. The creators of this site took a lot of things into consideration, including statewide initiatives, assessment practices, and even the different types of classrooms in which we teach. I feel like this site is very easy to navigate through and the tools are extremely user-friendly, making this a site that I would recommend any teacher add to their bookmarks list.

One of the things that I appreciate the most about this site is the video spotlight that is on the homepage. This is a place where educators can submit their own videos of 21st century skills being implemented in their classroom. I am a visual learner, so videos are a great tool for me to refer to in order to better understand the concept and practices of infusing these skills into my own classroom.

It was really nice to see which states are working on initiatives for 21st century education, especially since Iowa is one of them! This tells me that these states have come to believe in the effectiveness and importance of these skills in education, and that I can most likely expect to see more professional development regarding this in the future.

What does all of this mean, and who does this really affect? That's easy! This is all for the students. These kids are our future leaders, and we need to make sure they are well equipped to handle the challenges they will face. They will all, at some point, be put into situations where they need to work creatively with others and will need to communicate effectively with the group members, among others. They will be asked to solve problems and make judgment calls based on the known and unknown factors. They will continue to be asked to utilize technology to improve the efficiency of a company. And even if they are not managers or supervisors, they will be looked to as a leader at some point and will need to guide others through a problem-solving process. We need to keep all of this in mind as we plan our lessons, and make sure to keep finding ways to infuse the 21st century skills into those lessons. The students don't need to know that it's happening, it should really just be a natural part of the process.

I encourage you to check out the website and see how the resources can help you in your teaching endeavors. I, personally, am looking forward to trying out some of the things they recommend and seeing how easy it truly can become!

Blogs in the classroom

When I think about how to use a blog in my classroom, I am overwhelmed by the amount of use it could really have! I teach 8th and 9th grade computer and business classes, so we are on the computers every single day. I also have a Moodle page for my classes. Within Moodle is an option to use a blog. I don't know why I haven't been using this before! A blog in my classroom could be a place for students to spend part of class discussing the projects they're working on or some of the new skills they are learning. They could use it to talk about some of their favorite web 2.0 tools. Or even put some of their graphic work up to show off to their classmates.

I think the most important function of blogs in my classroom, however, is to open up discussions. Since we are on the computers, it is often difficult for me to get my students to actually talk in class when I want them to. Sure, they talk about their personal lives all the time. But they close up when I ask them to discuss content or to share what they know. If I have them post into a blog one or two times per week, the discussion topics could be endless.

Even though I'm really excited about the idea of using blogs in my classroom, I don't want to intimidate the students with them. Therefore, to start off, this could be used as an exit slip or bell ringer. I could post a blog with a question of the day or discussion topic, and they could post a two to three sentence response. This is an easy way to help the students ease into the idea of blogs before I have them posting original blogs of their own. 

I think overall my students will really get a lot out of blogs. It is a simple form of collaboration that will not only help them to communicate better, but will also open the door to more lessons on etiquette and such. Instead of using texting language like they do on their phones, and often, unfortunately, in essays and papers, they will need to use proper language. This is a struggle for students from what I have seen, so I know they could use all the help they can get to determine what is and isn't proper language etiquette! 

Now that I have thought about this, I'm ready to set up my first blog for my class. I am going to start small by using the Moodle blog tool since this is something that is already available and accessed every day in my class. Eventually, I would like to use sites such as blogspot and wordpress. But again, I can't get too far ahead of myself!

New Adventures

Well, it has finally happened. I have started a blog! I have several friends who have had blogs for as long as they have been created, but I did not see a purpose for having one for myself. The funny thing is... I explore other people's blogs all the time! My weekly Pinterest time often leads me to someone's blog where I can find fun decoration or recipe ideas, and I use them all the time for finding new ideas of things to use in my classroom.

So why did I think blogs weren't my thing? To be honest, I don't see myself as a creative writer! Who wants to read a boring blog that isn't well written and doesn't have a specific purpose? I have had issues with creative writing since high school. I had one of those experiences with a course that I never expected, and my teacher ended up inadvertently squashing my creative writing juices. While I've tried to recover from my experience, I still don't have the passion to write anymore.

Why start a blog now? Good question! One of my mentors started one a few years ago and has recently seen tremendous results in her classroom because of that blog. After talking with her, I am ready to give it a shot! I want my students to see the fun and engaging purpose of a blog, whether it is for personal or professional use. I want to be able to share my ideas and inspirations with my followers. And what if I find the most amazing homemade frozen yogurt recipe that I've ever tasted... wouldn't it be nice of me to share?!

So now the adventure begins. While I can't promise to be a faithful blogger, I will promise to do my best to provide quality blogs that will either inform, educate, or entertain my readers. I hope you enjoy my blog and support my on my new adventure. If you have suggestions on topics you want me to discuss, leave a comment! I'm open to all ideas!!!