21st Century Learners

As teachers we see a lot of trends come and go in the classroom. It is often difficult to determine which trends are just passing fads and which are really educationally sound. Only time and data can give us insight into the benefits of different learning programs. Technology is hitting our classrooms and our students hard and it is easy to see that technology is not merely a fad or a passing trend but the new face of education.

After perusing the website 21st Century Skills it is apparent that as teachers we need to not only embrace the technology that we are faced with but to utilize it to instruct our students to prepare them for the future. The website contained a wealth of information, which to be honest at times, was a little overwhelming! The site outlined its objectives which is to better prepare our students for the 21st century work environment. The site breaks its objectives into two separate sections: student outcomes and support systems. What impressed me most was that the student outcomes did not down play the continued need for core subjects such as reading, writing, math, geography, etc. In fact it encouraged the teaching of those skills while incorporating technology and higher order thinking skills at the same time. One of the main goals of the partnership is to weave the core subjects with global awareness skills, civic literacy, health literacy and fiscal literacy- all of which are essential competencies to our ever-changing society.

While searching through the website I was surprised by the idea that high school students are not being fully prepared for post-secondary education. Technology is often targeted in elementary school and high school, but not all colleges embrace technology but rather use lecturing methods to teach. Hopefully the college model of teaching will evolve as the rest of the educational field embraces technology. I was also surprised by the quote of employers which stated that high school and post secondary graduates are " . . . woefully ill prepared in both basic knowledge and applied skills . . ." It is important that our students are ready to face the job market. Many jobs are being sent over seas and our students need to be competent and able to compete in the global economy.

The implications of all of this is that as teachers it is our duty to prepare our students for the future. It will not be an easy task as this will require a complete change in our thinking about teaching, learning, and assessment. I enjoyed the 21st Century Skills Map which offered concrete ideas for how to embrace 21st century skills in the classroom. The portion of the site gave ideas of how to incorporate English skills such as creativity and innovation, critical thinking/problem solving, communication, collaboration, etc. to students in grades 4, 8 and 12. This new way of thinking about teaching can be a bit overwhelming and it is nice to see concrete examples of what these types of learning should look like.

The face of our classrooms are changing as new technology continues to replace the old. Are we ready for it?

Blogging in the Classroom

I have been considering how to best utilize blogging in my classroom which has been a little difficult for me. I teach third grade and unfortunately blogging sites, personal pages, etc. are strictly banned from our classroom computers and the bans have no chance of being lifted anytime soon. It was a huge deal for the Internet bans to be lifted on inauguration day so that the students could witness President Obama's speech. Regardless of all of that though I have been interested in how I could utilize blogs in my room if my students were actually allowed to access the sites.

One way in which I might utilize a blog would be to use it as a place where parents could access information about my classroom. Information regrading homework, tests, lunch menus, etc. could very easily be added and parents could look at the information at any time from their home computer. This would cut down on scheduling questions such as when does my child have gym? When is picture day? It would also serve as a forum so that I could leave messages to parents about important reminders that the students would need to know (picture day, field trips, etc.)

Another way that I would be interested in using a blog would be to use it as a collaborative space in which my class could connect and discuss information with students from other schools. One idea that I had would be to have my students read Charlotte's Web (I teach third grade). I have a friend that also teaches third grade in another state who could also read the same book with her students. While reading the classes could post questions to each other and have a discussion about the book via the blog. The students would be able to hear the opinions of others while being able to articulate their own ideas.

While discussing the book students could also research links about the author and post so that both classes would have a wide variety of web-sites that discuss the author. Students could also research spiders as a part of the book and share their information with the classes on the blog page. The students would then have the opportunity to write a research paper about spiders using the websites provided from both classes. After writing their paper the students would be matched up with a partner from the other class. They could share their research papers and then have a discussion about how to best improve and revise their papers. This would allow students to collaborate with each other as well as work through the writing process while at the same time reading and discussing the book.

A blog would be ideal for this sort of lesson because it would allow students to hear opinions from students in other schools and places. It would allow the class to work together to either individually or collaboratively write a well thought out response to literature.

I've never actaully created a blog before and to be frank I've never really wanted one. However, with computers changing the face of the classroom and the capabilities needed to teach our students, the need for technology is essential. Being a twenty-first century teacher means keeping up with the latest trends in technology and one of those trends happens to be blogging. I will be interested to hear how others incorporate blogs into their classrooms, especially at the elementary school level. Any suggestions would be helpful.