The Partnership for 21st Century Skill

“As much as students need to learn academic content, they also need to know how to keep learning — and make effective and innovative use of what they know — throughout their lives” (The Partnership for 21st Century Skills).

http://www.21stcenturyskills.org/

After reviewing the above web site I was presently surprise in the information available through The Partnership for 21st Century Skills. I specifically agree that content is important however the learning and thinking skills that they give an overview of in my opinion is even more important to the success of students today. What surprised me the most where all the corporate Board Member Organizations. I think that as educators we should be in contact with organizations that are going to be the employers of our current students.

I don’t disagree with the information on this web site, however I do find it difficult to even begin think how this is being incorporated with the ever increasing content curriculum standards that states are mandating. At every age and grade level students are being bombarded with content information and this program seems to want to include all of that on top of their other three areas of interest, which are 21st century content, learning and thinking skills, and ICT (information and communications technology). I feel that this is overwhelming as a student and an educator. I start to wonder where is all the time going to come from that I would need to redo curriculum that I just redid last year when the new content standards were released.

This program has direct implications for both students and their educators. On a positive note this program could be very beneficial to student by giving them skills that companies are looking for. The difficult part is for educators to be able to work programs like this into their curriculum without watering down the content standards that students are expected to know.

Blogging in the classroom?

I have been thinking about this question for the last few weeks, even before this became an assignment for us to complete. How could I use a blog in my high school Physics or Earth Science classroom? What can it do for the students to enhance their learning? I have all of these questions, unfortunately not all of the answers.

I like the idea of setting up a discussion questions on a weekly basis, possibly posting my initial question for thought on a Friday, and giving some background information in class, and then having the students post responses throughout the week. I like to see students that are normally quiet and shy in class have a say and get their point across.

Right now in my Earth Science class we are talking about GHG's (greenhouse gases), climate change, global warming and how do we fit in the middle of this. I think that a discussion blog on some of these topics would open students up to another point of view and how to write deliberately without offending other students by possibly not having the same point of view.

As a student I always had strong opinions however I rarely shared it with my peers. I wanted a way to open up without the possibility of face to face rejection. I also think that students are more likely to thing through an argument when typing rather than a face to face discussion.

What are your thoughts on this?

Hello

Hi, My name is Erin and I am a high school Science and Math teacher, and I'm currently working on my Master in Integrating Technology in the Classroom.