Reaction to Partnership for 21st Century Skills

Partnership for 21st Century Skills is an organization that advocates for 21st century readiness for every student. The strategic council members of this organization are from an impressive list of businesses. The site itself is well designed and easy to navigate.

When reviewing the framework, I was most interested in the 21st century interdisciplinary themes that P21 advocates should be woven into our curriculum. The five themes are: 1)global awareness, 2)financial, economic, business, and entrepreneurial literacy, 3)civic literacy, 4)health literacy, and 5)environmental literacy. These are very complex issues and at first I was overwhelmed about these from an elementary perspective, but I do think we can start incorporating these themes at a very early age.

Another aspect that I found interesting was the area of Life and Career Skills. In particular I was was struck by "initiative and self-direction." It seems that each year more students are coming to us displaying less initiative, less intrinsic motivation, and less self-direction. In light of the statistics regarding the number of jobs students will hold and the move toward an "anytime, anywhere" work environment, I think initiative and self-direction will be critical skills.

While I am glad there is an organization advocating for student readiness, I did not find the site helpful in terms of how teachers are to accomplish this. The information on the state initiatives and the implementation guide were very broad. In order to incorporate the global themes and various literacies, states and school districts will have to invest a great deal of time and resources to revamp current curriculum. Time and resources are always a problem in our field.

Utilizing Blogs in the Classroom

In the book "Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms," it states that we are becoming a "society of authorship" and with "two new blogs being created every second" that certainly seems very true. A couple of years ago, my colleagues and I discussed ways to share student writing with parents throughout the year. (We have student-led conferences in May to share writing portfolios.) We tried to set up individual password protected sites on a teacher website for parents to log in and see just their child's work. Only two teachers tried it for a year or so but did not keep it up.

As I was thinking about ways to utilize blogs in my classroom, my first thought was to resurrect the sharing of student writing. Currently we have a publishing center in our library where children can bring a processed piece to the center and a parent volunteer helps transform that story into a book with an about the author page, dedication page, etc. We also share student work by hanging it around the room and the building but I think it would be very powerful for students to publish their writing to a class blog and open it up for feedback. My concerns are with the kinds of feedback students may give their peers, and parent comparisons between their child and others in the class. I also worry about some of the content of the stories. For instance I have a student who recently wrote a very sad story and the main character is based on this student and her feelings. If the power in this tool is the interaction between readers and writers, how can a teacher not post a particular piece? Should there be controls on who can view and comment on student work?

Understanding the impact of technology-Week 1

This week as I read the course text (Blogs, Wikis, and Podcasts), there were several ideas in the first chapter that really stood out. The first was the idea that "we are creating a society of authorship." Anyone with access can publish their ideas on the internet. I did not like the idea of blogs when I first explored them years ago for that very reason, but I have since changed my view on blogging and now think of them as an expanded version of our discussion boards for class. I still do not feel comfortable searching for specific information or participating with an anonymous, unknown group.

Another area that is a concern to me is that "these technologies make more of our lives transparent to others in ways that many find unsettling." As Richardson points out, today's students are "always connected and that is their expectation." I have a cousin who blogs and posts so much of her personal life to Facebook. Why do people want their lives broadcast in this way?

In the section on "Social Learning," the author stated that "in 2005 students were far ahead of their teachers in computer literacy." I agree with this statement and it is one of the reasons I chose this program of study. I see the powerful computing devices young people carry in their pockets everyday and I wonder how we can harness the technology to use it for education and how we can teach students to use that technology responsibly.

Another reason I chose this program of study is because I do believe today's learners are different because of all the technology they use. They are more visual learners who demand instant information and feedback. In the text, the author states that "this immersion in technology has neurological effects...children think differently..they develop hypertext minds, they leap around, its as though their cognitive structures were parallel, not sequential." My principal just told me about a video clip he watched of kids using all different forms of technology in a fast paced environment, and then they would flash to a school environment with kids sitting in chairs looking bored.

I look forward to this course because I think it is important to look at all the needs of our learners. During the last course, we examined our cultural responsiveness and now we have to examine our technological responsiveness.