After exploring the Partnership for 21st Century skills document, I have found that today, teachers across the nation are expected to be preparing students to meet the demands of the 21st Century. Schools are partnering with the business community and policy makers to ensure that all students will be productive citizen and workers that will possess essential skills needed in the 21st century. The 21st century standards focuses on teaching students how to thinking creatively, work collaboratively, and use innovative technology. Teachers must modify their instructions to incorporate more activities that will allow students to hone their communications skills both written and verbally and implement more real-life problem based solving activities to help improve student critical thinking skills. Schools are requiring teachers to align their curriculum according to the 21st century so that students will be better preparing when they enter the workforce.
This website allowed me to broaden my knowledge about each state requirement for the 21st Century and it familiarize me with the programs that states have implemented to help educators prepare students to compete with others globally. In North Carolina there are three key ongoing 21st century initiatives that have been created to ensure that all teachers have available resources, knowledge, and skills to prepare students for this era. The first is a “Learn and Earn” programs where students can earn a high school diploma and finish with two years of college or an associate degree with no cost to the students. The second initiative is The North Carolina Teacher Working Conditions Survey, where teachers are asked to complete at the end of each year. This survey provides important data so that state educators can help strengthen and improve the learning environment in schools. I will share with my co-workers that importance of completing this survey and the impact that it can have on the teaching profession. Lastly, there is a graduation project that requires high school students to demonstrate what they know and are able to do as a result of their cumulative education. This project helps students to develop ideas for discovering an interest about a topic that relates to the 21st Century Skills and it also encourages business partners to participate in student job shadowing.
I think that the website could have provided more detail information of how teachers can include 21st Century Skills into their curriculum. They could have provided sample lessons that teachers have created according to grade level and subject area. This would be beneficial to teachers because it would give examples of a lesson that incorporate a variety of 21st century skills. I notice that a lot of the information was repetitious. It was good to know that if teachers want to get involve with the 21st Century skills initiatives that they can participate in P21's collaboration which is a Leadership States that serves to ensure 21st century readiness for every student. I know that my students will benefit from me gaining more knowledge about the 21st Century Skills standards. I will make sure that I stay abreast of the 21st Century changes in my state, so that I can be inform of the new pedagogy, methodology and advance technology which will help improve my teaching practices. I now realize the importance of creating rich learning experience for my students so that they will be able to transition to a higher institution of learning or into the real world.
Reference:
Partnership for 21st Century Skills (2004) www.P21.org
Hi Hazel,
ReplyDeleteI was feeling the same way as you about the application piece for teachers. There were a lot of great resources, but not a lot of "how-to's". The mission of the P21 organization is awesome and a step in the right direction for our students' futures, but I noticed that there were no classroom teachers on the member list. Do you think this could be a reason why there aren't very many leveled lesson ideas?
It is surprising that you live in North Carolina, a state that is involved in this project, but were not aware of the P21 site before being directed to it during this course. What good is state involvement if the educators of that state are unaware of the resource? If educators in the states involved are not aware, then the project is not effectively improving the skills of high school graduates, the investors potential employees. Possibly the investors did not expect see the benefits of their investment within the 8 years since the project’s conception. This may explain why so few states are involved even though it is offered without cost. Even more interesting is Disney being listed as a corporate investor, yet the State of Florida is not currently involved.
ReplyDeleteMy questions and comments correlate with Erika's comment to your post, "there were no classroom teachers on the member list" too. Isn't it also interesting that Ms. Pepe, an integrating technology in the classroom instructor and advocate, is directing students to the P21 site, yet she lives in Florida.
hmmm...
Hazel
ReplyDeleteYour comment that “the website could have provided more detail information of how teachers can include 21st Century Skills into their curriculum” is something that really resonated with me. The framework presented by PS21 is something that presents wonderful ideas but the fact remains that like many state initiatives they lack in specifics about how to implement it in a classroom.
I strongly believe that 21st Century skills should be something that our schools strive to achieve in our schools, but at the same time I think that the politicians and members of PS21 do not place enough emphasis on the economics of the situation. The educational technology in classrooms has a direct correlation with the funding that is available to each school district. There are many schools and communities that are willing to pay for the advancement of technology, but there are a lot of others do not have the funding available. The voters have spoken and nearly “99 percent of voters say that teaching students a wide range of 21st century skills—including critical thinking and problem-solving skills, computer and technology skills, and communication and self-direction skills—is important to our country’s future economic success” (Peter D. Hart Research Associates, 2007), yet these same voters in a lot of cases are not willing to pay higher taxes in order to provide the tools to accomplish such goals.
I think that PS21.org is a great site and like you as you have stated it is a resource teachers can use, but I think that as we look into the ideas presented we must still think of the logistical side to each of the ideas presented.
Resources:
Partnership for Twenty-First Century Skills (P21). . Beyond the Three Rs: Voter Attitudes Toward 21st Century Skills Retrieved Oct. 03, 2010 from
http://www.p21.org/documents/P21_pollreport_singlepg.pdf
Your comments about Florida and North Carolina are relevant. In order to make progress, the vision of change needs to be part of the movement and providing information to the public and educators is essential especially if the mission is to close the gap.
ReplyDeleteThe Six Key Elements of 21st Century Learning presented on The Partnership of 21st Century Skills website represents a good guide for teachers to infuse essential skills in their teaching.
• Emphasize core subjects.
• Emphasize learning skills.
• Use 21st century tools to develop
learning skills.
• Teach and learn 21st century context.
• Teach and learn 21st century content.
• Use 21st century assessments that
measure 21st century skills.
However, as you mentioned, providing sample lessons would also give educators a glance of what is expected. Overall, the vision of P21 is outstanding in that it has opened the discussion of integrating 21st Century Skills as a part of every student’s education.
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. (26, September, 2010).
Hazel,
ReplyDeleteI was also surprised about the lack of lessons for teachers. I think that the website had a lot of information about what we should be doing but not much about how to preform these ideas. I think that for those teachers that are not used to incorporating technology in the curriculum need all the help and supports they could get. Perhaps it would be a good idea for the website to have real teachers that are incorporating their ideas into the classroom add their lesson plans. I know that I would benefit greatly from having more ideas on using technology. It is important that we work as teachers to make sure we are using new and innovative ideas with students so that they do not get used to the same old and get bored. It is our job to excite them about technology but we often need means to do this. Through having more lesson plans available to us we will be able to do this to the best of our capabilities.