Partnership for 21st Century Skills

The Partnership for 21st Century Skills is a well-organized website with a multitude of information and resources used to support its mission to “serve as a catalyst to position 21st century skills at the center of US K-12 education by building collaborative partnerships among education, business, community and government leaders” (Partnership, 2004).

The Partnership for 21st Century Skills has developed a framework that demonstrates 21st century skills student outcomes and 21st century skills support systems. I found it refreshing to see a framework that viewed all of the components as interconnected and essential to 21st century student learning. This framework emphasized the need for revamping of our support systems. Without solid support systems in place to lay the foundation for the teaching and assessing of 21st century skills, our educational system will remain in its current state.

While familiarizing myself with the website, I found myself spending a greater portion of my time perusing the Route 21 feature. The Route 21 feature contains skills-related information, resources, and community tools for those interested in learning more about how to ensure that our students are receiving instruction of 21st century skills. The Partnership for 21st Century Skills encourages professionals to submit ideas and/or resources that may assist others in teaching 21st century skills. Frequent submissions help to keep Route 21 current and relevant.

“Since its inception in 2002, the Partnership has more than tripled its membership, growing from eight founding organizations to 26 members representing America’s leading business, technology and education organizations” (Partnership, 2004). Although I found this statistic interesting, it was not surprising. “Business leaders want employees who can continually update their skills, communicate effectively and work independently to get things done” (Partnership, 2004). Employers will no longer view information and communication technology skills and demonstrations of critical and innovative thinking as perks; they will be requirements.

As other countries incorporate 21st century skills into their curriculums, the United States must also make advancements to ensure that our schools are also fostering such skills. As educators, we must analyze our curriculum and current teaching practices to take into account areas where we are meeting the standards set for teaching 21st century skills and those that are not. Serious discussions with colleagues and other teaching professional via educational blogs may prove enlightening when deciding how to best ensure that these 21st century skills are being taught in our classroom. Our students must leave our educational system well-equipped with the tools necessary to compete in a today’s global workforce.

Reference:
(2004) The Partnership for 21st Century Skills. Retrieved from http://www.21stcenturyskills.org/

Celebrate Student Work Through Blogs

My initial reaction to blogging in a Kindergarten classroom was that of uncertainty. How could I possibly incorporate blogs in a meaningful and practical manner? I began to think outside of the box after I read Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms. "Blogging can teach critical reading and writing skills, and it can lead to greater information management skills" (Richardson, 2009, p. 36). This being said, I believe a classroom blog, if utilized appropriately, could provide increased motivation for students to increase their reading and writing skills.

The purpose of my Kindergarten classroom blog would be to celebrate students' successes and work. Kindergartners love to receive praise and a blog would provide a wonderful stage for student work to be showcased. After scanning in a piece of student work that demonstrates growth, original thought, and/or quality work, I would have the student dictate what he/she would like me to write about his/her chosen work and why it deserves to be in the spotlight. This requires the students to critically think about how they demonstrated quality work and how to appropriately choose words to express their thoughts. I would encourage parents to visit our class blog and post comments about the students' work. This would provide my students with a greater understanding of how networks function and how people can communicate via the Internet. Most importantly, it would give their writing an audience outside of our classroom.

I believe that by creating a class blog, creativity will surge. Students will want their best work to showcased for the world to see. They will want to use their developing reading skills to read the posted comments and will find that writing is a powerful tool of expression. The creation of a class blog in Kindergarten may help to lay the foundation for how various forms of technology can be used as learning tools for years to come.

Reference:
Richardson, W. (2009). Blogs, wikis, podcasts, and other powerful web tools for classrooms (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.

Learning Through Experience

Welcome to my blog! This blog was created to give myself and others a stage for sharing their experiences with integrating technology into today's classrooms. Based on my learning experiences, reading information from a textbook or article is temporary knowledge unless directly applied into a practical setting. For this reason, my goal is to use this blog to record my experiences, both successes and failures.

My Kindergarten students bring a wealth of knowledge about technology to my classroom. I feel that it is my responsibility as an educator to expand upon their knowledge and demonstrate how technology can be used as a tools for learning. I encourage anyone to share how they integrate technology into their classrooms.