Evaluating 21st Century Skills

The 21st Century skills site is an inviting site with its colorful pictures, easy to follow table of contents, and many focused topics that cover the reasons our education system needs to emerge technology into the core classes of today's society. This website hooked me right at the beginning from the "Letter to America's Education Leaders" to the many ways we can support the Partnerships for 21st Century. Although I enjoyed reading the entire website, what surprised me the most is that there is actually a program that recognizes the fact that there is "a profound gap between the knowledge and skills most students learn in school and the knowledge and skills they need in typical 21st century communities and work places" (Learning for the 21st Century, 2008) and want to come together to make changes. The fact that this website is very aware of the impact that technology has in the real world, and the transformation that is required for schools to adapt to the accelerating changes that it brings is refreshing. I really enjoyed the many insights and best practices about 21st century knowledge and skills, the idea of it complementing No Child Left Behind by including technology skills to be assessed, and creating the six key elements of 21st century learning. I couldn't agree more with the fact that 21st century technology make better connections for students engagement, motivation, and attitudes about learning.
Therefore making everyday learning relevant to life by teachers using examples, applications and settings from students' lives and their communities through technology will be an obstacle that I will have to conquer. Knowing that today's technology allows educators to pursue a topics in depth and allows for advanced communication is an advantage for all. I hope that when I complete this course the dynamics in my classroom have changed drastically along with that of technology. I will remain to be a life long learner as I will teach my students the same, because of the fast pace of today's technology.

How I'd Use a Blog In My Classroom

At first thought, the lesson that would get the most legs out of using a blog in my classroom would be Teaching 6-Traits of Writing, a very hands on, involved exercise for students with a good amount of actual writing involved. The blog would serve as a writing tool giving peers the ability to edit, giving each student the ability to reflect on their original piece and absorb the feedback from their peers. This blog would also be a wonderful and powerful way for parents to become more involved with their child's writing. It will be such a good use of technology.

A blog supporting these lessons gives students an opportunity to interact about content amongst themselves or with the teacher, and it also acts as a showcase for their work, giving them a sense of pride when it's a job well done.

There are so many ways in which a blog can enhance the lesson. It is an opportunity for students to review other students' pieces of writing, respond to, edit or polish writing pieces, see their own growth, as well as that of their fellow students. This gives students a real full audience other than just a teacher. They can ask questions for clarification, other students can ask them questions about their writing and they can all share ideas to stimulate even more growth.

For a 7th Grade Language Arts teacher, a blog is a good tool for organizing and implementing instructional context. Blogging can promote interaction as well as critical, creative, intuitive, and analytical thinking. It can be a powerful median for increasing access and exposure to quality information. It bodes well for our use of technologies in the classroom. It allows the involment of parents and demands interaction, a most powerful source of growth.

Preparing Educators For Future with Technology

After almost 10 years of being an educator and having coasted through the first course in my master's program, I know now more than ever how important it is to bring educators more up to speed with the ever-growing technology in this world. It is painfully obvious that the world around us is moving faster than what the education system is able to provide us with. "For today's educator to claim ignorance of technology's capacity for assisting learning should strike us the same way we feel about a teacher from the 1960's who said he/she didn't know how to read" (Thornburg, 2004).

To expedite the process of bringing educators up to date with technology, there must be more emphasis from all angles on education wherever possibe and immediately. It must come from the government, from donations, and wherever possible parents must grab hold of oportunities afforded them and integrate technology in their homes. This will have a direct and powerful effect on how quickly the student can adapt to technology in the classroom.

Educators affording themselves with technology at home when not as available through their school is another way to kickstart this integration.

78% of America's teens have internet access, and over 25% of them have broadband (Thornburg, 2004). While this number is greater than ever before, the world still revolves around our ability to communicate and the faster and more efficiently we can communicate, educate and do business, the bettter chance America has to maintain as a world leader. Again, this starts with students, and the younger the better. The fastest growing age group for using the Internet is 2 - to 5-year-olds (NetDay News, 2005).

Educators MUST keep up with the tech world around us in order to be able to do our jobs properly. Educators must be provided with adequate professional development opportunities to give us the skills both in technology use, and in the ways these tools can be utilized or implemented in the context of the curriculum and modern pedagogy.

References:
Richardson, W. (2006). Blogs, wiks, podcasts, and other powerful web tools for classrooms (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.
Thornburg, D. (2004). Technology and education: Expectations, not options. (Executive Briefing No. 401).