Evaluating 21st-Century Skills:

           As a Walden University graduate student working toward a master’s degree in Integrating Technology k-12, I have recently begun researching the implementation and importance of 21^st century skills in the classroom.  This week, I spent some time exploring the website of the Partnership for 21^st Century Skills (http://www.p21.org), and familiarized myself with their mission, members, and available resources.

            The Partnership for 21^st Century Skills, or P21, is a national organization that “advocates for 21^st century readiness for every student” (Partnership for 21^st Century Skills, n.d.).  For many educators looking to incorporate 21^st century skills into their daily teaching practices, this website is easy to navigate, user friendly, and overflowing with valuable and easily accessible resources.  While exploring the website, I began my journey by traveling through the “Tools and Resources” tab for educators.  Within this tab, I was presented with various links to 21^st century skill research guides, kits, and skill maps.  From introduction to integration, the “Tools and Resources” tab clearly provides educators with resources needed to begin, continue, or advance their use of 21^st century skills in the classroom.

            In addition to resources for themselves, the “Tools and Resources” tab also provides educators with printable resources to share with parents and the surrounding community.  As teachers, we work hard to build a strong and pliable home-school connection.  Often times this translates to informing parents of what we are teaching and more importantly why.  The incorporation of 21^st century skills is no different than any other content area, and it is imperative that parents know the significance of these skills and the things they can do to reinforce such skills at home.  To aid in the home-school connection, P21 provides educators with articles such as “Defining 21^st Century Skills”, “Why 21^st Century Skills”, and “Implementing 21^st Century Skills” (Partnership for 21st Century Skills, n.d.).  These articles are available as PDF files and can be printed and distributed at your discretion.   

            Educators today are faced with many challenges.  Often times we struggle with an overload of curriculum and can not find time to fit everything in.  Additionally, in more recent years, a strong emphasizes has been placed on high-stake tests and school accountability, placing an undeniable stress on today’s educators.  Like ants under a magnifying glass, teachers are being heavily scrutinized.  With this in mind, as an educator you may be wondering; I have to teach 21^st Century Skills? But I already have so much on my plate!  Fear not follow educators, the members of P21 have a plan.  Rather than tack on to the preexisting workload, P21 proposing that educators “promote the understanding of academic content at much higher levels by weaving 21^st century [skills as] interdisciplinary themes [that blend] into core subjects” (Partnership for 21^st Century Skills, n.d.).  Rather than increase the workload, they provide teachers will skill maps to enhance content areas.  Another area of the website that I found interesting is the “State Initiatives” tab.  This tab provides a link to each state which directs to a state page that includes state goals, initiatives, content standards, and updates.

            Many educators may find themselves shying away from incorporating 21^st century skills in their classroom.  They may be unsure as to what 21^st century skills are, worried of change, or simply apprehensive of an addition to their already hefty workload.  As teachers we must go beyond these thoughts and apprehensions.  It is our job as teachers to prepare students for the outside world, and ready them for the work force.  We must evolve with the work environment, familiarize ourselves with the 21^st century skills they will need to succeed and meet challenges head on to better the education of our students.


References:

Partnership for 21st century skills. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.p21.org

Utilizing Blogs in the Classroom:

            As described by Will Richardson (2010), author of “Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms”, weblogs or blogs encourage students “to read more critically, think about that reading more analytically, and write more clearly” (20).  With this in mind, I began to consider how I might use a blog in my own classroom.  As a fourth grade teacher, I teach an array of subject areas.  From language arts, social studies, math, science and even Latin, I am somewhat overwhelmed with blogging possibilities. 

            One subject area I would like to incorporate the use of a class blog in would be writing.  Fourth grade students often find writing to be a difficult and daunting task.  When completing a writing piece, students will sometimes neglect to edit their work, although they are given many gentle reminders to do so.  The awareness that only one set of eyes will be reading their piece could very well be the explanation for a lack of editing and revision on the students’ behalf.  With this in mind, blogging may be the key needed to unlock the motivation to critically reread, revise, and edit.  As described by Will Richardson (2010), blogs facilitate “a new genre that could be called ‘connective writing,’ a form that forces those who do it to read carefully and critically, that demands clarity and cogency in its construction” (28). 

            Although a majority of our writing is done in class, I occasionally send home an assignment I refer to as the Writing of the Week or WOW.  Generally given once a month, each WOW is different and places a focus on a specific writing mini-lesson.  For instance, students may be asked to “described their favorite place”, a writing piece that must incorporate sensory details.  Students are commonly given a week to finish the assignment, and encouraged to complete one stage of the writing process each night. 

            Using a class blog can enhance the WOW activity.  Prior to publishing their pieces, students can post their writing on the blog and receive feedback from their peers.  “One of the biggest potentials of Weblogs is the ability to create spaces where students can collaborate with others online” (Richardson, 2010, 23).  In my classroom students give constructive feedback through two stars and a wish.  The two stars allow students to verbalize to their writing partner two things they liked about their partner’s writing piece.  While a “wish”, requires the students to give feedback on one way the writing piece can be improved.  Rather than verbally relay this information, students can now post this on our class blog.

            I am looking forward to eventually beginning the blogging process with my students.  Any feedback or comments would be greatly appreciated!

References:

Richardson, W. (2010).  Blogs, wikis, podcasts, and other powerful web tools for classrooms (3rd ed.).  Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.

A Brief Introduction:

Welcome to “Tech Talk”, a blog created with innovative technology usage in mind!  My name is Amy and I am a fourth grade teacher striving to attain a master’s degree in Integrating Technology Grades k-12.  Through this blog, I am looking to learn and share with educators across the globe.  I am excited and ready to embark on this blogging journey.