Partnership for 21st Century Skills

After looking at the website for the Partnership for 21st Century Skills, I was surprised that so few states are partnered with this organization. Upon further exploration I found that the standards for becoming a recognized partner are quite stringent including having high-profile leadership, aligned standards with 21st Century Skills, an overhaul of assessments, and an "aggressive" implementation strategies. It seems that those states that have become partners, though few in numbers, are quite motivated to elevate the level of education in anticipation of  the skills and habits of mind that students will need to be competitive in this century's workforce. I applaud them.

My home state of Ohio has recently joined the list but my current state of New York is not among the few. This is not a surprise to me. Working in Ohio I found language related to 21st Century Skill already imbedded in curriculum and starting to creep in to influence school funding decision at the local level. New York's state standards have little reference to technology at all. We are so far behind.

I recently found this blog by the Electric Educator. There's a pretty good discussion happening around how to "Google Proof" the questions you are asking your students. I think that the blog provides an interesting reminder that as technology advances, so too must our instruction.

Blogs in the classroom

Among all of the ideas that have been presented for blog use in the classroom, I am most attracted to the idea of using blogs as the extension of my classroom curriculum. I am constantly trying to encourage my 8th grade science students to connect our content to their prior knowledge and personal lives. I would use blogs as a way for students to add personal connections to the content presented in class by having students post blog entries (and comments) related to the big topics or main ideas that we are covering. For example, on main idea of our genetics unit is the idea of using our knowledge of genetics to improve human lives. During this time, students can create entries that highlight recent developments in the science of genetics.

Introduction

Thank you for visiting my new blog!

Please check back in the near future for more.