Tuesday, January 27, 2009

21st Century Skills

After reading the article Partnership for the 21st century, I had many different reactions. For most of the article I agreed with what the authors said. It is very important that we start teaching our students more than just core content knowledge. This meaning we need to blend the academic world to the real world as stated in the article. We must also teach them real life skills and how to use 21st century skills, in order for them to be successful in life. As in the article, 21st century skills will not happen immediately, but incorporating 21st century skills is a challenge that our country can not afford to ignore (Lang).

While reading this article I was very surprised with the statistic that the United States is near the bottom among developed countries on problem solving. This surprises me because with the access our students have whether it be, technology, money, and freedom to a free public education it is hard to believe that our students are near the bottom. It also surprised me when the article stated that test scores can increase up to 11% by improving a schools physical environment. This surprised me because with all the emphasis that is placed on test scores, for example funding for my title I school that I work at, you would think that this would already be being done and students should be passing with a high success rate. One last thing that took me by shock was that by 2013 it is estimated that schools will reach a record level of enrollment and that it will cost $30 Billion annually for construction and maintenance. Where as I do agree with this and I can see this happening, how are we suppose to get the money for this when there are schools who are located in lower income, poor neighborhoods and students are on free and reduced lunch?

One thing that I disagreed with in the article was when they said "it is not finding time and money to support use of 21st century skills, but to adequately support the use of these skills. If you do not have the money as say in a title I school, how can we support 21st century skills, without having the access to expose the skills to our students. Funding may not be a big emphasis over supporting use of 21st skills, but how are we to use the technology when we are lucky to have 2 working computers in each classroom and very little money for more up to date technological machines.

Overall I thoroughly enjoyed reading the article. It was very interesting and neat to see what other states are doing in order to expose our students to the skills of the 21st century, and not just emphasising on math, language arts, science, and social studies. I do believe that we need to start doing away with all the emphasis on core subjects and start applying some real life skills into our teaching, but again there is the problem with funding and finding time to teach the skills, when so much emphasis is put on testing and passing tests in order to meet annual yearly progress especially in the elementary and middle school levels. Since funding is limited in some counties, I think it is important that teachers are kept up to date with the skills and that sometime throughout the day they should find time to incorporate these skills into teaching, even if they have to use one computer and show the class as a whole. Our students are growing up in a changing world, and a world that is going to continue to get more complex and advanced in the technological aspects, and it is our job to make sure our students leave with the feeling of success, understanding and standards of what is going to be expected of them when they are out on their own in the real world.

3 comments:

  1. Hi Jennifer,

    The doubts you express about moving forward with technology, when one lacks resources, are ones I share, although I am beginning to understand that we can still make headway in preparing our learners for the 21st century because, as noted on the website, there are so many other things needing to be addressed. In addition, I am trying to brainstorm activities I can engage my learners in from home. I feel badly for those without Internet access, and luckily they are a minority, but for these students I will provide in-school computer time whenever possible. Most recently I had them address the question of whether a citizen born in Puerto Rico can run for president (I am still awaiting an answer), a query that arose during a discussion concerning the recent inauguration. The enthusiasm this small task engendered was wonderful, so now I am trying to come up with something that calls for the use of cell phone photography and video options. Any ideas? These may be baby steps, but that are progress and exposure, and more than I had implemented prior to taking this course. I look forward to a day when we can take on such task in school and as they come to mind right in class! Since the goal is for students to take control of their own learning, as a lifelong commitment, why not start now? I know there is plenty I can learn from them. Have a great day!

    Monica

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  2. I agree with you when you say that teachers need to incorporate real life applications into their teaching. I also agree with you when you say that focusing too much on core subjects such as literature, science, math, and social studies is not completely preparing students for the world. As a high school science teacher I try very hard to relate almost all lessons to some prior knowledge that the students have or apply the lesson to real life events. However, I have seen teachers (mostly veteran teachers) that are simply teaching from the book and have no desire to teach "outside the box". These kinds of teachers are the ones that I feel are holding students back because they refuse to stay current with real world applications.
    It is our job as teachers to change according to our surroundings and teach these kids to be successful by helping them set reachable goals. I really enjoyed reading your blog.
    Have a good day!

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  3. Jsteedley: I see it everyday in my school especially the older teachers. They read from the book or have their students read from the book, answer questions, define vocabulary, ect. This may have been an ok way when we were in school but now with the challenges our students are going to face. We need to all wotk to be innovative teachers, and not traditional teachers. I want to be that teacher that students think back on and think" wow I remember when so and so taught us this and I can remember everything she said" all because I was innovative and went outside the box.

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