Evaluating 21st Century Skills

The Partnership for 21st Century Skills site is full of information; tools and resources for educators, policymakers, parents and communities; links to presentations and publications; opportunities for professional development; and animation about how students can soar far and above their peers. I really enjoy browsing through the site and I believe this is a site that I will still need to explore as well as add to my favorites. When a teacher gets a grip of the resources in this site and makes use of them, the students are on the pathway to 21st century successful workers. The main focus of the site for educators is to be able to equip and prepare students not just for the classroom but for life outside and beyond school.

I was surprised to learn of the statistics of how the US K – 12 education system is fairing in relation to 21st century readiness as:
“Eighty-four percent of employers say K-12 schools are not doing a good job of preparing students for the workplace; 55 percent say schools are deficient in preparing students with basic employability skills (such as attendance, timeliness and work ethic); 51 percent cite math and science deficiencies; and 38 percent cite reading and comprehension deficiencies.
A very small percentage of 4th and 8th grade students US students (less than 30%) perform at a proficient level in math, while up to 20% lack the competence to perform even basic mathematical computations” (Partnership for 21st Century Skills).

This is frightening in the sense that if this is happening in the US, then my country is a long way off in preparing our children for the 21st century reality. This challenge indicates to me that I have to firstly realize the seriousness of the deficiency and proactively prepare my school and students for the 21st century workplace so that they will be employable and efficient anywhere in the world.

I am particularly intrigued with the fact that a framework for the 21st century learning has been developed by the organization to help educators, administrators and policy makers to know how to overcome this challenge. The framework lays out in details the types of skills, and the knowledge and expertise needed to be mastered by students for success in the workplace.

It is difficult to find anything on this site that I can disagree with except that in order to get involved and subscribe to the P21 newsletter, I have to be in the United States of America and I wish this was different, maybe Walden University can give some sort of leverage in this matter so that we can be identified on this site when we make use of our Walden’s e-mail address.

It is sheer joy for me to learn about this site.

Reference

Partnership for 21st Century Skills. (n.d.). A report and mile guide for 21st century skills. Washington DC: Author. Retrieved from http://www.p21.org/images/stories/otherdocs/p21up_Report.pdf

My Wiki Experience

Wiki Wiki Wiki
What a collaborative tool
That is really really very cool
Though it needs for one to spool
All data entered into the pool
Wiki Wiki Wiki
A needed tool for the school

MATHEMATICS BLOG

Mathematics blog will

enable the students analyze how to work mathematical problems easily as they explore their answers to the questions asked.

Blogging in my Classroom

Children’s interest in academics goes a long way in determining their level of attention and willingness to learn. Technology happens to be a tremendous point of interest to children; so using the medium will lighten them up, arouse their curiosity and motivate them to learn. Students have a preference for the internet to assess the latest information about their course content, which usually poses a challenge to their teachers who are just trying to tag along with the notion of using the internet (Richardson, 2010). One of the reasons educators should imbibe the use of technology in the classrooms is that they may be a step ahead of their students (Thornburg, 2004).

A blog is a simple, cheap and useful tool for the classroom because the teachers are able to set up blogs at no extra cost while students are given the opportunity to interact academically with each other and the teacher; and exchange ideas with the world so that they can get to know other people’s perspectives of any discussion matter.

In my classroom, I intend to use the blog for my grades one to six mathematics students but for the purpose of this presentation I will like to focus on my third graders. I will make use of discussion on working methods for mathematical problems from across the curriculum. Students will be expected to state how they intend solving a problem. This will give room for interaction among pupils as if they are working in discussion groups while I moderate. Several ideas will come from contributors so that the students will be able to expand their knowledge base. Right now the topic we are treating is equivalent fractions. I also intend to have number games of fractions that are equivalent to each other so that students will make a choice of which fraction is equivalent to the given one and discuss why. Since the knowledge of multiplication is important to performing equivalent fractions, I will post questions that will generate their ability to recall their multiplication values and how to apply same to equivalent fractions. Word problems will also feature prominently. The blog will be an avenue for students to interact about content in an interesting manner. Mathematics becomes easy when students derive fun in doing it. The sense that they are playing around with the technology, helps them relax and focus, because they do not like to be defeated by the computer in their games.

The simple idea of sharing their ideas gives them the satisfaction of achievement as they feel that they have important views, and this consequently builds confidence in them that makes him work hard at his given task so that it can be of global standard. On the other hand, blogging shifts the focus from the confines of the classroom to the glare of a global audience where every bit of information written can be readily accessed and assessed by anyone, including their parents who will be able to compare their children’s work with his classmates. It is however important for the teacher to take the time to oversee and model safe and acceptable level of communication during blogging (November, 2008).

References

November, A. (2008). Web literacy for educators. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.
Chapter 6, “Expanding the Boundaries: Blogs, RSS, Podcasts, and Wikis”

Richardson, W. (2010). Blogs, wikis, podcasts, and other powerful web tools for classrooms (3rd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.

Thornburg, D. (2004). Technology and education: Expectations, not options. (Executive Briefing No. 401). Retrieved from http://www.tcpdpodcast.org/briefings/expectations.pdf

Technology in the Classroom

My world of technology exploration as a teacher has just started and I am inviting you to join me in this adventure. I have been using technology in my classroom and I am enjoying every bit of it because my students are in the better academically for it. We make use of the interactive board with internet connection. There is no limit to the amount of educational resources available for use in my classroom as the students search and explore the internet for learning purposes.
In this fast changing world of technology where most of the children that walk through the doors of our classrooms are tech savvy, we definitely need to embrace the use of technology in the classroom; not to mention the fact that many professions have had various breakthroughs in the use of technology, possibly because there is such a demand placed by their clients, which is not usually the case with education (Thornburg, 2004). When utilized, technology makes our jobs as teachers easier because we are able to do different things (Laureate, 2011) to enable our students to be lifelong learners. Most of our students are able to easily maneuver various gadgets for learning, so teachers need to catch up with, and possibly be ahead of their students.

References

Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). 2011: The emergence of educational technology
[DVD]. Understanding the impact of technology on education, work, and society. Baltimore, MD: Thornburg. D

Thornburg, D. (2004). Technology and education: Expectations, not options. (Executive Briefing No. 401). Retrieved from http://www.tcpdpodcast.org/briefings/expectations.pdf