Partnership for 21st Century Skills

     I have spent a great deal of time this week exploring the Partnership for 21st Century Skills website. At first glance, the website appeared dry, and downright boring. It certainly did not have the colorful and appealing pictures which usually attract my attention to a website.

     Upon further scrutiny, though, I found this website to be full of resources for teachers, administrators, and parents. The purpose of this organization is the preparation of students in grades K-12 for the 21st century workplace they will be entering as adults. This organization encourages a dialogue about what 21st century skills really are, and provide a framework for their implementation in the school environment.

     One aspect of this site which I found particularly helpful was the "MILE Guide Self Assessment Survey". This survey made me think critically about what my students actually know and are able to do, not only with the factual knowledge presented, but the skills I teach in my classroom. After critically analyzing my school, and my classroom, I am much more aware of where my students are right now in terms of the 21st century skills, and where they need to go next. This survey made me even more committed to working with my students on the 21st century skills because I can see clearly how the basic skills I teach in my 1st grade classroom (reading, writing, and basic math) will help shape and will be shaped by the use of technology in their future class and work environments.

One aspect of the website which I did not agree with was it's report from 2006: Virtual Schools and 21st Century Skills. While I agree that virtual schools can be a very good way to reach students who are less comfortable working in the traditional classroom environment, I worry that virtual schools do not provide the socialization skills necessary for success in the workplace. Children already spend a great deal of time working with computers, and I agree that using computers to teach is a magnificent idea, but I think that this needs to be balanced with active social situations, which one can only find in the classroom environment. Students need to learn how to socialize and work with people who look, act, or think differently than themselves. Students need to learn how to listen to others in a large group discussion, and how to actively think and participate without the option of deleting and editing before posting. In the workforce, during corporate meetings, there is no delete button when a sarcastic comment comes out, and no way to hide facial features showing agreement or disagreement. These are skills students need to learn when they are young, and unfortunately students who only attend virtual schools miss out on these skills, and they have difficulty with face-to-face communication as a result.

I agree that 21st century skills MUST be incorporated into schools and individual classrooms, but I think we must not forget the importance of social interaction in a face-to-face setting as well.

Reference:
Grant brings e-learning, accelerated courses to Hawaii schools. Retrieved from:http://hawaiidoereform.org/enews/2012-03/Grant-brings-e-learning,-accelerated-courses-to-Hawaii-schools

Partnership for 21st Century Skills. http://www.p21.org

A First Grade Blog

There are many ways to use blogs in classrooms, and I think that all of them are relevant in many ways.

Using blogs as a means through which teachers can communicate with parents would probably be the first step in using a blog in the classroom.A teacher could set up a class blog from which parents could get updated information about assignments, or upcoming events. The blog could also be a portal through which the parents could ask questions about events in the classroom, or the teacher could let parents know when help will be needed.

Another way in which a blog could be useful in the first grade classroom is as a portfolio. I particularly like this idea because this portfolio could follow the student throughout their school career. I currently work in a school with 100% military families, so we have a huge transiency rate each year. We struggle to find a means through which we can track the progress of students, and a blog portfolio could be an answer to that dilemma. The blog could start in kindergarten or first grade, and trace the progress of the students as they move through the grade levels. In kindergarten and first grade, we could scan and upload examples of student work, and then allow the students to comment on their work (why they are proud of it, what they want to work on in the future, etc). In this way, students who move many times in their lives would be able to keep their most important work, and not add extra boxes which need to be moved from one post to another.

I know there are many applications of blogging in classrooms, but these two seem the most relevant to me, given my first grade classroom. I look forward to moving my classroom to one in which blogging becomes an every-day occurrence.

A New Start

So, here we go! I am not completely new to blogging, but using a blog for teaching is a new experience for me. I can't wait to get started!