Evaluation of the Partnership for the 21st Century Skills Website!!

The Partnership for 21st Century Skills website http://www.21stcenturyskills.org/ is very user friendly, in its arrangement. It is easy to subscribe to receive emails, simple to access and use drop down bars at the top, plenty of links to articles, links to videos, and contact information at the bottom. As this website is read, initiatives from West Virginia are immediately brought to mind. Although some of the links seem to not include much information, there are often sub links within that link.

It is surprising that only ten states in the United States of American have gotten on the bandwagon for the Partnership for 21st Century Skills! More companies than states are involved in the Partnership for 21st Century Skills! These companies that have home bases in certain states should interest their state departments of education in becoming part of the Partnership for 21st Century Skills. Partnerships for 21st Century Skills initiatives are in the news a great deal!

Everything on the site is valid, there are no strong opinions that go against an educator’s beliefs. This website would be benefitted with very specific ways to get your state involved.

Partnership for 21st Century Skills website shows that whether it is this organization or a different educational technology organization, most, if not all states will be involved in some sort of technology initiative in the next few years! As a district, this means convincing the state of Connecticut to join Partnership for 21st Century Skills and deciding who will be teaching technology curriculum. As a contemporary teacher, this means being more aware of the technology curriculum and which content areas are in charge of which technology content standards. As contemporary students, this means being much more literate, in today’s society. A question in one’s mind may be “Does the growing importance of expert thinking and complex communication mean that schools should stop teaching the three R’s and focus on teaching these (technology) skills?” (Levy & Murnane, 2006). According to Levy & Murnane, educators do not need to stop teaching the three R’s, instead we can embed them in the curriculum, as long as the district and teachers are very aware of this, the schools do not need to rebuild their entire district’s curriculum for integrating educational technology!!

Resources
Levy, F., & Murnane, R. (2006). Why the changing American economy calls for twenty first century learning: Answers to educators' questions. New Directions for Youth Development, 2006(110), 53–62.

The Partnership for 21st Century Skills. (2009). The Parnership for 21st Century Skills Web. Retrieved July 22, 2009, from http://www.21stcenturyskills.org/index.php

Coming soon!!

My reaction to the Partnership for the 21st century skills website!!

It is their mission 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." (Partnership for 21st century skills) http://www.21stcenturyskills.org

Blog Assignment

I would use a blog in my classroom for students to have an open discussion about a topic. For example, at the beginning of the year I might ask my students to post about how they are getting on, their first month in 7th grade. As the year progresses I will use it to ask students to discuss topics or answer questions based on science class content or research. A blog might be especially useful for controversial topics such as evolution or stem cell research. I will not use the blog as a showcase for work but rather a place for students to have collaborative discussions to enhance regular class discussions. I have found that students who are typically shy during class discussions, or are not as quick to the punch are likely to excel using a computer for class discussions. A blog also allows students to expand their thoughts based on other students thoughts!! It is a great tool for assessment, so that I am aware first of their content base gained from class or outside sources and then an analysis of the student's ability to comprehend the discussions and therefore draw conclusions from the class discussions.