The website Partnership for 21st Century Skills (P21) is an overwhelmingly large resource of ideas, blogs, articles, lessons, videos, etc. for educators and schools looking to join the movement towards getting our students ready for the innovations of the real world. The site offers insight into the importance of the three Rs (English, reading or language arts; mathematics; science; foreign languages; civics; government; economics; arts; history; and geography.) and four Cs (critical thinking and problem solving, communication, collaboration, and creativity and innovation) as well as a variety of tools and links to help educators understand what the Partnership is and how to support them through standards and curriculum. According to the website, the thinking behind this partnership stems from concerns of “a profound gap between the knowledge and skills most students learn in school and the knowledge and skills they need in typical 21st century communities and workplaces.”
What information on the site surprised you?
I was surprised by some of the negative comments that were written in some of the blogs. A few people seemed to be defensive about the need for such a program and were not fully convinced that it was a feasible project with all the other standards schools must focus on. Not everyone seemed to understand that “integration” meant that we would incorporate the three Rs and 4 Cs into what we are already doing, making it a part of the curriculum, not something completely new. I was also surprised to learn how many states have already joined the partnership.
Did you disagree with anything on the site? Explain.
This Partnership is something pretty new to me, so I have little to disagree with right now. As I learn more about what it all means to schools and educators like myself, my opinions may change.
What are the implications for your students, and for you as a contemporary educator?
As a contemporary educator it is important for me to keep up with the ever changing world that will eventually be welcoming students from my classroom. This means that staying aware of the skills and innovations that are going on in the working world and how it relates to the skills that I am teaching in the classroom will be very important. I will have to integrate many of the skills that students will need to be efficient, collaborative, and resourceful into the lessons that I teach in order to help students be successful in life.
I find that many educators in general are resistant to change. I can say at one point in my life I was resistant to change as well. But over the last three to four years I have really gotten into technology and the ability to use it in my classroom. I have the resources available to me so why not use them? I recently found an on-line system for accounting that follows our textbook. This system replaces workbooks, gives students instant feedback on their progress and is similar to many computer programs used in the 'real world'. I got all of the accounting teachers on board for one year. The following year the other two teachers went right back to the old paper and pencil way. The resistance to the new technology was overwhelming. The two teachers wanted to do the same thing they have been doing for the last 20+ years. What a shame!
ReplyDeleteCarrie,
ReplyDeleteI did find the site to be a bit overwhelming in scope. I do agree that we could just incorporate the skills into our classroom not make them competitive against what we are doing, but, the issue for me is that I have to teach Chemistry with the intent of students passing that section on the state test. I know the way that will get them their best and it is the old fashioned lecture/demo/lab strategy of the last several hundred years from alchemy to now. It doesn't really support 21st century learning as it relates to the tech but it does support the collaborative team work aspects. The tricky thing is how we make time for these additions and amendments without hurting a system that works (primarily when that is how my performance is gauged). So, the trick is getting the powers that be to acknowledge that we do in fact need a shift in priorities away from high stakes testing. Also, I personally need to find a way to incorporate the tech aspects into the old methods. I have some ideas to use my AP Chem. students as test subjects simply because they will go along with whatever I say as it is a college level course and they care deeply about their marks. So, I imagine that your two relic teachers who put up a big fight did so with the same logic, why fix what ain't broke. They know their method works and they don't feel they need to follow the whims of another passing fad, and if you recall, although this may not be a fad, their have been countless pedagogical shift that were supposed to be earth shattering that turned out to be just another trend and a bit of popular psychology.
So, don't be to hard on them for their resistance. I think I see why they are resistant. Just keep plugging along, if your new method shows improvement over the old and they still resist. Well, then, shame on them.
Good day. See you around the web-campus.
You mean change is not a dirty word? Sometimes I am baffled as a teacher of only four years, at how resistant to change some teachers are. The press that teachers get is usually bad enough, without our "veterans" grumbling every time something different is introduced. Like you said, we do not need to start over from scratch and redo every lesson. Usually subtle changes, such as trying to implement more collaboration or writing into a lesson are all that is needed to move things in the right direction. Occasionally, when you get out of a meeting your wondering if the biggest road block to technology in the classroom is not a lack of money, but rather a resistance to change.
ReplyDelete