The Partnership for 21st Century Skills website review

While navigating through the Partnership for 21st Century Skills (http://www.21stcenturyskills.org/index.php), I saw more and more why technology integration is a vital element in our preparing students for today’s society. As their mission statement suggests, we need to bridge the gap between the expectations and standards presented in the school environment with those our students will encounter in the modern workplace and within daily life necessities. The more exposure to technology and critical thinking experience presented in school, the more prepared they will be to enter a society built on global initiatives and collaboration.

I was surprised to see how few states are actually a part of the Partnership, however, I am not certain as to how many states know about this resource. I also am not completely sure of the requirements set upon states that desire to be a part of this mission. The site offers guides to adapting state standards to 21st century skill sets which would probably prove usual to districts or teachers in need of ideas. The resources are even grouped by support system, skill (technology, innovation, life/career), and knowledge (subject and theme) for easy navigation. The business members of the Partnership are an impressive list of today’s most influential and recognizable businesses.

One stance mentioned on the website that I strongly disagree with deals with raising expectations and accountability. Their vision inaccurately, in my opinion, relates these ideals with strengthening student motivation. Such systems of measure mentioned on the site include graduation tests and higher enrollment qualifications into college. I’m not suggesting we need to “dummy-down” curriculums to allow people to graduate or enter a college institution; however, in my experience, standardized testing raises anxiety and lowers a student’s love of school. It seems like we are making it harder to achieve success with threats and unreasonable expectations. This is especially true if you consider that states don’t assess their students’ skills with the same tests. Some are much easier than others. For instance, in Virginia, the tests are multiple choice and given in May. In Pennsylvania, the tests are multiple-choice mixed with open-ended responses given in March. Therefore, this sentiment of raising expectations by increasing accountability is ridiculous. Raising expectations is fine, but accountability should be levied consistently across the nation before I support this notion completely.

All these thoughts imply that a contemporary educator’s job is about to become more difficult than the pay would suggest. These skills have always been necessary, but time and focus on state testing always gets in the way. Most teachers are not trained to integrate all this technology, but the expectations will still be set. School districts will need to dig deep in their pockets to create workshops and training sessions for full technology integration at its highest potential. Critical thinking skills and problem solving will always, and has always been, part of every school’s curriculum.

This is my blog, so I feel obligated to react to another thought mentioned throughout the website. I would greatly appreciate feedback and opinions. A thought I hear mentioned consistently in the media and in schools is that we are far behind other countries. This is a half-truth; a somewhat-illusion. Other countries, such as China where my close friend teaches today, does not allow all school age students to attend school past a certain level. Only a percentage of school age students in many countries are given the opportunities we afford all of our children in the United States. I hear stories from my friend that students with disabilities are put to work in the real world or sent directly to a trade school faster than those that show a gift for learning. The United States is gracious enough to give these children full educations, but we are compared to other countries as if we are all held to the same standard. Yes, we have some catching up to do because their strongest are far beyond our average student. However, when standards of learning are the same across the world, then we can be fairly judged. Please give me your thoughts on what I have said.

Blogging Integration

My second attempt at blogging seeks feedback about potential blogging integration ideas within my classroom. I am a fifth grade teacher in Pennsylvania, in a district that forces all elementary teachers to teach all subjects. I'm sure there are many ways to integrate blogging into the content areas, but my initial instinct is to integrate this technology into my reading class, specifically within my novel studies and literature circles. I feel that it would be beneficial for all students to share their ideas about literature elements. By incorporating several ongoing blogs during a novel study, a student can choose times to share their thoughts throughout the entire sequence of the book. For example, one blog can be for predictions of upcoming events, where students can present and document reasoning for predictions. Another blog can be for sharing insight or reaction to plot points throughout the book. Several others could be added during the novel study to incorporate theme, character development, changing settings, or whatever interests the students. I have also considered allowing students access to initiate a blog about something within the novel - with my prior permission course.

The lessons would be ongoing, and students would be able to see and access their thoughts and those of their classmates throughout the novel. All students would have a voice, even the shy ones in class, and be able to practice their writing skills in the process. If other classes are also reading the novel, it might be interesting to invite multiple classes to share in the blogs to increase the chances of creative ideas and discussion starters. The possibilities are endless, but I'm curious about issues I have not considered since I have never actually used blogging in my classroom.

Future blogs may contain ideas for current event reaction blogs in social studies or brainstorming for writing projects, especially persuasive writing. But those are for another blog.

The Internet and our Students

As this is my first blog, I wanted to share my thoughts about something that has been on my mind for the past couple weeks. My class was reading in this month's Time For Kids issue about the quality of reading available for and utilized by children on the Internet. This is only a fifth grade class, but the debate that followed our reading was very interesting. We examined both sides of the argument in a respectful and orderly manner.
At the end of the discussion the students asked my opinion. I have a history of being honest and open with my students so in this instance they expected nothing but the truth. Every year that the internet becomes more and more a daily media for our students, the more I see basic reading and writing abilities deteriorate.
In regards to writing, email, instant messenging, and chatroom participation has seemingly fought against the phonic foundations that primary teachers attempt to instill. Instead of writing, "How are you?" - simple question - they decide to write in broken sounds, "How R U?" Acronyms such as 'lol' and 'omg' are examples where students feel the need to rush their writing instead of taking care in their word choices. I know this is only a basic, preliminary argument, but these behaviors have transferred into my classroom whereas some students actually forgot how to write the word, 'you.'
In regards to reading, of course there is quality literature on the internet. The question is how are the students actually utilizing it? On one side, any reading is good for a child because some are just too lazy or disinterested to open a book. Even online video games offer chances to read about the upcoming scene, short bursts of plot sequencing practice. However, does it replace the satisfaction of finishing a book after reading it page by page for days, weeks, or months? Does it offer the same variety of word choice? Does it encourage the same visualization skills we use while reading without pictures? I don't know, but it has seemed like as society has become overly dependent on technology, the students' skills have deteriorated. I mean, how many people actually read a newspaper anymore?