The Partnership for 21st Century Skills

After lingering around on The Partnership for 21st Century Skills website I was surprised to see that there really are people out there who are trying to help bridge the gap that has been created with technology and the educational system. The mission statement for the program is 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." I agree when they state "to successfully face rigorous higher education coursework, career challenges and a globally competitive workforce, U.S. schools must align classroom environments with real world environments by infusing 21st century skills." I was very impressed that they mention the core subjects in school and still consider them to be important.

I did not really find anything that I disagreed with on the website. However, I was shocked and a little discouraged to see that so few states are involved in this program. Also, the states that are involved are not what I consider big ones such as New York, Maryland, California, Texas, Florida... that I thought would have the funds and motivation to be involved. Another thing that I was a little discouraged by was the fact that the board is made up of members from highly respected and very well known companies. I only graduated from college 6 years ago and I would have thought that if this really was such a BIG program that I would have heard about it before. In addition, with the companies that are involved I am a little discouraged that since 2002 when it was formed it has not gotten as much publicity with what they are trying to do as you would think.

Moreover, I do not feel that this website was very user friendly. I find myself to be tech savvy but I found this website difficult to navigate. Overall, I feel that this website has some resourceful information for incorporating 21st century skills into education not only for educators but also for the public. I think the program has good intentions but more states need to jump on board in order for it to be successful. We need to prepare our students for the real world they are about to enter and beginning with teaching 21st century skills is a good starting point.

How Blogging Can Be Useful

Blogging is the new craze and it is time we start using it in the schools. I teach fourth grade in Delaware. As I continue to play with my blog and look at others and what can be done with them I am beginning to gather lots of ideas. I hope that you will take a moment to read through my ideas and let me know what you think. I am also asking you to leave me some other ideas on how I can use blogging in my classroom.

One idea for using blogging in my classroom is as a place for students to write reviews about books they have read. They have been taught how to write a summary but I need to go a step further and teach them how to write a review to post for others to read and comment on that do not give away the end of the book. I also would like the students to have the chance to have discussions about books they have read and their thoughts and feelings on the books. As humans we all read things differently and I feel that using a blog will allow the students to hear other students point of views on the book.

Not only do I think this would be a good place to talk about books but I think this would be a good way for students to share about their lives and ask questions of each other. They can post a blog about themselves and others can comment and ask questions so they can get to know each other.

I also like the idea of using it to poll the students. While they are doing their morning work or during center time I can have a poll up for them to respond to and then we will see the results when it is time.

One last idea for using a blog would be to showcase some of their work. However, I have to make sure that the parents give apporval for me to display their work and name on the website. I will send home a letter at the beginning of the year asking for permisson. They will have the option of not having anything about their child on the site, just their work, their work and their name, and a picture of the child if they allow. This will be a nice way for them to show of their work to their family and friends at home if they have access to the internet.

These are just a few ideas that I have so far on how I can use this blog to help create more of a community within my classroom. I hope to entice the students who don't normally like to write using paper and pencil and all the students to want to write more since they get to type it on a website for others to see. I also hope to be able to create more discussion between the students and myself.