With the release of numerous reports regarding skills seen as essential in preparing students for the 21st century workforce, educators are faced with the critical decision of choosing which list of skills to follow and how to effectively implement them into the curriculum on top of covering the many state and federal requirements. After review, I have decided that The Partnership for 21st Century Skills has done a commendable job of designing a resource available to educators in need of guidance in making these critical decisions.
When accessing http://www.21stcenturyskills.org, you will find their 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.” It is a relief to see that they realize that educators can not do it alone; businesses and politicians must also play a vital role. Backed by today’s leading technology companies, educators can bring the globalization into the classroom.
I was surprised to see that several states have already embraced this mission and have devised plans to make it a reality. However, when trying to view the details of exactly what steps each state is taking, I find the information vague and difficult to comprehend. In addition to viewing information from the political standpoint, I would like to see the initiatives taken by individual districts and schools. If you access their report at http://www.21stcenturyskills.org/images/ stories/otherdocs/p21up_Report.pdf, some of this information is available. I believe it should also be an important part of the website.
Although there is definitely work still to be done, it is an inspiration to see that progress is being made to keep education at the same pace as the rest of the world. Responsibility will fall in the laps of both students and educators to learn the and utilize these essential skills. In addition, “We must commit to ensuring that all students have equal access to this new technological world, regardless of their economic background” (21st Century Skills, n.d., p.4). Hopefully, the valuable members of this organization will help see this through.
References:
http://www.21stcentruy skills.org
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/images/stories/otherdocs/p21up_Report.pdf
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
Going Green? Try Blogging!
As a tenth grade World History, Intensive Reading, and an eleventh grade Introduction to Teaching teacher, the opportunities to utilize blogs in the classroom are many. Although I am going to take Will Richardson’s (2006) advice and start small, I would like to use blogs to create historical resource pages, as discussion boards, and for online student portfolios (p.44).
With my World History class, I would most like to create a resource page or “build a body of knowledge” similar to the online textbook and study guide created by Darren’s AP Calculus class mentioned in Web Literacy for Educators. While the students are learning information and posting it to a blog, they are also creating a learning resource for other students and a reference for their future studies (November, 2008, p.84). Throughout the year, my students do a significant amount of research on historical topics that should be seen as knowledge to share with others. Going beyond just blogging, I was also impressed by Will Richardson’s (2006) suggestion to create a similar type of resource using RSS (p.82). The ability to create a webpage by posting numerous links regarding a specific topic is mind-blowing.
I also teach and Intensive Reading through World History course where we read books and work on literacy skills through the topic of history. I would most likely use blogs as a discussion board with this class. I was influenced by the example presented by Will Richardson (2006), regarding a project undertaken by his class of eleventh and twelfth grade students. They were reading The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd, and through their discussion postings, created a reader’s guide, along with having virtual discussions with the author herself (p.25). My students read Copper Sun by Sharon Draper every Spring as they learn about the Atlantic Slave Trade. What a wonderful way to have students discuss the reading, demonstrate comprehension skills, and create a resource for other readers of the book. In addition, Sharon Draper has done live book talks with our school in the past and I would definitely contact her to find out if she would like to become part of the discussion.
Finally, this will be my first year teaching a class entitled Introduction to Teaching, for students who want to become teachers in the future. We all know that developing online portfolios is an important part of teacher education. Therefore, I would like to use blogs with my students for this exact purpose. As they write teaching philosophies, lessons plans, observation notes, and reflections, the blog will be a place where their work will be posted for review and as a place to store these important documents for future access.
Although these purposes can be fulfilled in other ways, blogs have the power to make assignments meaningful and are a motivator for quality. High-order thinking is a constant and writing has purpose. Powerfully stated, writing stops; blogging continues. Writing is inside; blogging is outside. Writing is monologue; blogging is conversation. Writing is thesis; blogging is synthesis . . . none of which minimizes the importance of writing” (Richardson, 2006, pg.30).
References:
November, A. (2008). Web Literacy for Educators. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press. Copyright 2008 by Sage Publications, Inc. Used by permission of Sage Publications, Inc.
Richardson, W. (2006). Blogs, wiks, podcasts, and other powerful web tools for classrooms (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.
With my World History class, I would most like to create a resource page or “build a body of knowledge” similar to the online textbook and study guide created by Darren’s AP Calculus class mentioned in Web Literacy for Educators. While the students are learning information and posting it to a blog, they are also creating a learning resource for other students and a reference for their future studies (November, 2008, p.84). Throughout the year, my students do a significant amount of research on historical topics that should be seen as knowledge to share with others. Going beyond just blogging, I was also impressed by Will Richardson’s (2006) suggestion to create a similar type of resource using RSS (p.82). The ability to create a webpage by posting numerous links regarding a specific topic is mind-blowing.
I also teach and Intensive Reading through World History course where we read books and work on literacy skills through the topic of history. I would most likely use blogs as a discussion board with this class. I was influenced by the example presented by Will Richardson (2006), regarding a project undertaken by his class of eleventh and twelfth grade students. They were reading The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd, and through their discussion postings, created a reader’s guide, along with having virtual discussions with the author herself (p.25). My students read Copper Sun by Sharon Draper every Spring as they learn about the Atlantic Slave Trade. What a wonderful way to have students discuss the reading, demonstrate comprehension skills, and create a resource for other readers of the book. In addition, Sharon Draper has done live book talks with our school in the past and I would definitely contact her to find out if she would like to become part of the discussion.
Finally, this will be my first year teaching a class entitled Introduction to Teaching, for students who want to become teachers in the future. We all know that developing online portfolios is an important part of teacher education. Therefore, I would like to use blogs with my students for this exact purpose. As they write teaching philosophies, lessons plans, observation notes, and reflections, the blog will be a place where their work will be posted for review and as a place to store these important documents for future access.
Although these purposes can be fulfilled in other ways, blogs have the power to make assignments meaningful and are a motivator for quality. High-order thinking is a constant and writing has purpose. Powerfully stated, writing stops; blogging continues. Writing is inside; blogging is outside. Writing is monologue; blogging is conversation. Writing is thesis; blogging is synthesis . . . none of which minimizes the importance of writing” (Richardson, 2006, pg.30).
References:
November, A. (2008). Web Literacy for Educators. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press. Copyright 2008 by Sage Publications, Inc. Used by permission of Sage Publications, Inc.
Richardson, W. (2006). Blogs, wiks, podcasts, and other powerful web tools for classrooms (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
Can Technology Solve Reluctant Reading?
The year after graduating from college, I was hired to teach high school social studies. This was great! I majored in History and felt comfortable teaching my assigned World History curriculum. However, I soon found myself more than a history teacher; overnight I had also been labeled a reading teacher. Due to low state standardized test scores, all teachers were expected to teach reading skills by embedding them into the content of their subject area. As a new hire, I was also required to get my Reading Endorsement within two years to keep my job. It only took me one, but I soon found myself also teaching an Intensive Reading class. I guess you could say things changed very quickly.
As an avid reader myself, I had big plans of helping each student find a book of personal interest and begin each class with fifteen minutes of SSR. At the end of the first week, after everything appeared to be going well, I ask students to share a brief summary of their book thus far and either make a comment, share an opinion, or predict what would happen next. Within a few minutes, I learned that many of the students could not provide this information as they were simply staring at pages as if they were blank and turning them every few minutes to create a facade of reading. Luckily, no behavioral problems ever resulted from this "free" time I was giving the students everyday, however there were many missing books and stories left unread by the end of the year. I never realized so many students were so reluctant to read. I guess that explained the low test scores.
So how do we solve the problem of having reluctant readers? In the article The Best of Both Literacies, Magaret Weigel and Howard Gardner (2009) suggest that digital media is the answer. Although there is a major difference between online reading and offline reading, and many pitfalls surely need to be addressed, reading online can become an active, hands-on ways to engage students and make them responsible for their own learning. In addition to building basic reading and writing skills, "New digital media have a powerful ability to link students across time and space, capitalizing on their natural desire to socialize with peers" (Weigel & Gardner, 2009, pg. 40). To me, using computers and the Internet to interact with a text seems like a logical solution when addressing literacy issues in a technology-driven society.
Wiegel, M., Gardner, H. (2009). The best of Both Literacies. Educational Leadership,
66(6), 38-41.
As an avid reader myself, I had big plans of helping each student find a book of personal interest and begin each class with fifteen minutes of SSR. At the end of the first week, after everything appeared to be going well, I ask students to share a brief summary of their book thus far and either make a comment, share an opinion, or predict what would happen next. Within a few minutes, I learned that many of the students could not provide this information as they were simply staring at pages as if they were blank and turning them every few minutes to create a facade of reading. Luckily, no behavioral problems ever resulted from this "free" time I was giving the students everyday, however there were many missing books and stories left unread by the end of the year. I never realized so many students were so reluctant to read. I guess that explained the low test scores.
So how do we solve the problem of having reluctant readers? In the article The Best of Both Literacies, Magaret Weigel and Howard Gardner (2009) suggest that digital media is the answer. Although there is a major difference between online reading and offline reading, and many pitfalls surely need to be addressed, reading online can become an active, hands-on ways to engage students and make them responsible for their own learning. In addition to building basic reading and writing skills, "New digital media have a powerful ability to link students across time and space, capitalizing on their natural desire to socialize with peers" (Weigel & Gardner, 2009, pg. 40). To me, using computers and the Internet to interact with a text seems like a logical solution when addressing literacy issues in a technology-driven society.
Wiegel, M., Gardner, H. (2009). The best of Both Literacies. Educational Leadership,
66(6), 38-41.
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