Partnership for 21st Century Skills

The website on the Partnership for 21st Century Skills is an excellent source of information in which teachers can take the skills that they already teach and infuse technology to better prepare our students for the professional world. The website discusses the importance of emphasizing core content areas and primary learning skills by using 21st century skills to enhance these skills. As per Partnership for 21st Century Skills, students comprehend and retain more information when the learning is engaging and when they provide a connection to their personal lives (Partnership for 21st Century Skills). Using technology can help students create a deeper connection to the real-world and take what they learn outside of the classroom.

The information that surprised me, is that this infusion of technology is easily done when technology is readily available because we are not teaching brand new skills, but rather building upon the skills we already teach. Another piece of information that surprised me was the distinction that the article made between suburban versus urban schools. As per Partnership for 21st Century Skills, urban schools have a different population of students who may not be accustomed to have accessibility to technology at home. School is a place where they can receive their fill of technological experience, so it must be a worthy one. Suburban schools may feel that their school has outdated technology since they have accessibility to the latest technology outside of the classroom (Partnership for 21st Century Skills). This does not mean that we teach both schools different skills but teach them differently. In an urban school, like the one I work in, I try to use technology during class time so students can have the greatest opportunity to work with it. In these other schools, students can focus on skills and use their technology at home for project-based learning.

I do disagree with one aspect of the website, the quote by Governor McGreevey. Being a resident and teacher in the state of New Jersey, our technology is archaic and needs an update. Recently like other school districts we have been experiencing cutbacks and the technology aspect of the district seems to be lagging. McGreevy spoke about preparing our students for the future workplace, but we need more technology to do so. We have limited time in computer labs and even if we do book the computer lab, there is not enough for all the students. Recently this year, the classes that take priority in the computer lab are the Math and English classes, since they recently adopted online aspects to the courses in which the students complete benchmarks online. As a History teacher I rarely can book the computer labs, so I must make do with the little technology I have. I believe that a greater amount of funds should be allocated to update our computer systems and provide more computer labs to accommodate our large population.

Technology is changing at lightning speed, so as educators we must find a way to adapt to these changes. We must continue to focus on traditional critical thinking and problem solving skills but bring technology in the classroom to not only motivate and engage students but to prepare them for the real-world. Our states need to understand the demand for technology and provide schools with the necessary technology for educators to teach these information skills to our students.


References

Partnership for 21st Century Skills. (n.d.). A report and mile guide for 21st century skills. Washington DC: Author. Retrieved from http://www.21stcenturyskills.org/downloads/P21_Report.pdf

Using Blogs in the Classroom

A web blog can serve a great purpose in the classroom. In my classroom I would use a blog to continue discussion beyond the classroom. As per Richardson, “blogs are being used as class portals, online filing cabinets for student work, e-portfolios, collaborative workspace, knowledge management and even school websites (Richardson, 2006)” I would also use a web blog to give specific prompts that may relate to standardized testing. For instance a new aspect of standardized testing includes explanatory essays in which students must use prior knowledge such as literature, history and personal experiences to explain a quote. These types of prompts can be used for both discussion and practice for testing. I would also use web blogs for communication among students for group projects. The web blog facilitates communication to complete their groups work when transportation to meet may not be available. With a blog students can discuss important topics discussed in the classroom and allow for critical thinking.

Blogging is a means of communication and professional writing for students. Students can use blogs as a forum to display their writing publicly. In this manner students take consideration in their writing and address spelling, grammar, and contextual aspects of their writing. This is an excellent forum for students to interact about content because it allows an educational discussion to continue outside of the classroom. Students can bring additional thoughts to the discussion and showcase their writing skills by involving themselves in a written debate with other students.

The grade level I teach is 10^th, 11^th, and 12^th grade. I am a Social Studies teacher and I teach US History I, Criminal Justice, and Psychology. The blog enhances the lesson because it is a different way to have a discussion and reinforce what was learned in the chapter. Students can take a more active role in the classroom by collaborating with one another. Blogs are essential tools for the classroom because they allow for collaboration outside of the classroom and continued professional writing exchange among students.