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!
Love your post! I really enjoyed this site and exploring what it has to offer. But I think about how the world of work is changing before our very eyes. Jobs are being defined broadly and those jobs change frequently for the needs of the business. Relationships change as well because employers have a flexible skill set and have desires that they want their employees to learn. Technology is advancing and there is competition of levels of technical knowledge from all employees. Our careers, as educators is to prepare students for the world of work. We need to find out what challenges we need to unveil so we can prepare students for the work force. As educators, we need to think about what forms work will take or how jobs are designed? Do you think it is an implication that we don't know what skills our students will need to know to succeed in the real world? I think we need to keep a thought on these questions. What do you think?
ReplyDeleteI agree with your points, Julie! Things are changing so rapidly in our working world. But I think that if we continue to keep our network open to professionals in different industries, and call upon them to help in our lessons - either as a guest speaker or just as an expert for knowledge and information - we will continue to keep up with what is happening and can effectively teach our students. To do this, teachers need to continue to be open to change, and need to truly listen to what they are hearing from the professionals. This is just a small way to keep up with the changing times, but I think it would at least get us partway there.
ReplyDeleteVicki, I like your ideas of taking this down to the classroom or teacher planning level. This has to be attacked at the teacher level in order to get implemented in any way. In order to move more toward a cultural change it probably will have to come from the teacher up within the realm change. We as teachers have to have an open mind as you suggest and be positive in order to change the stance of those within our profession who does not necessarily embrace technology or other skills crucial to educating the 21st Century Student. Great ideas.
ReplyDeleteI definitely agree that as educators we all need to be opened to change and a positive attitude is also a plus. Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteExcellent blog this week! I too liked the video spotlight. Unfortunately when I attempted to view the videos my computer would not download a thing. Frustrating when we are expected to include technology in the classroom and I am unable to even view a video showing how this technology can be used!
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