Browsing the website Partnership for 21st Century Skills , I was a little overwhelmed by the scope and content of the site. The Partnership for 21st Century Skills was formed in 2002, with the goal to "create a successful model of learning for this millennium that incorporates 21st century skills into our system of education." As an educator, I am aware of the importance technology plays in our lives today, but awareness is not enough. Action is necessary to give our students a fighting chance in their future as parents, teachers, employees, employees, and as responsible citizens. As can be seen by the vast array of partners working on this iniative - APPLE, AOL Time Warner, Dell, Cisco Systems, Microsoft, and the National Education Association, to name a few - this is an important step in the success and future of our children and our nation. If we cannot prepare our children how to succeed in a world where technology is changing faster than our gasoline prices, we will have failed them miserably.
I was surprised to find that this site and partnership was established in 2002, yet it is not something that we as eduators are aware of. I see none of these efforts being touted in my state, which is truly disappointing. It was nice to see a sampling of what other states are integrating technology into the classrooms and curriculums, but it would be nice see what all states are doing. Integrating technology into education will cost money - equipment, training, infrastructures, maintenance - but it would be money well spent and the payoffs would be great.
As a middle-aged educator, just starting out, I am excited and open to the possiblities that lie ahead. Curriculums must change for every subject area to incorporate technology, training must be provided and embraced, and the culture of our schools needs sto change for us to all succeed as citizens in the 21st century.
If you have any ideas or stories to share on integrating technology in the classroom, I would love to hear from you : )
Judith,
ReplyDeleteDo you currently use a lot of technology in your classroom? If so, does your school provide training/professional development based on technology?
Judith-
ReplyDeleteI agree with your statement about being surprised that this partnership has been around since 2002 and we are just now hearing about it through a class!! I have been teaching for 5 years now and had no idea something like this existed.
Did you look at the skills maps that the partnership has for each content area?? I really found some of the examples aligned with my seventh grade language arts content and would like to implement them.
Judith,
ReplyDeleteAfter reading your article, I thought about how you bolded the word action. Action is necessary. We, as educators need to realize that this problem of preparing our students for the 21st century, and incorporating new technologies will be one that will continue long after we retire. I think there will always be new technologies and new skill sets that students need. This is overwhelming just to think about. If educators just focus on taking action, I feel our students would be more prepared for the 21st century workplace.
Today, in my third grade classroom, I took action. I was teaching dictionary skills. It suddenly hit me, “WHY?” Since Wikipedia and online dictionaries exists, “Do students every really need to know what the guide words are used for?” And so I began a huge discussion explaining what Wikipedia is. I showed them the site. My class of 24 suddenly became extremely intrigued by the idea of adding information to a dictionary. I was not able to put each of my students on a computer, but I was able to take some action, and introduce my students to some 21st century technology.
Julie Budd