When first looking at
the home page of the site partnership for
21st Century skills I was overwhelmed by all that I saw. I felt,
“I’ll never be able to work my through
all of this information”. However,
at closer look the tabs at the top of the page can lead you into the site where
you will be able to read the posted information with a feeling of adequacy. I
did not like that links to articles that were advertised on the home page went
to sites that you had to join, with a fee. I
do not think that paying a second site to read one article is fair, the partnership for 21st Century
skills should not have links on the home page that force readers to pay a
fee to complete the article.
This
site, the partnership for 21st
Century skills, clearly lays out the framework by which they have developed
the skills needed for the 21st century. According to the site, their framework begins with the core
subjects that include No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) and the Secondary
Education Act of 1965 that spells out the core subjects. Interesting that the
secondary education act was past 47 years ago and the core subjects have not
been changed since. Next in the framework is the 21st century content
that includes global awareness, financial,
economic, business & entrepreneurial literacy, civil literary, health &
wellness awareness, and environmental literacy. These content areas are not
really stressed in many curriculums and perhaps they are not addressed in all
50 state standards. The framework goes
onto stress the learning and thinking skills that students need to be taught
for them to be successful in the new business world; these include creativity and innovation skills, contextual
learning, and information and Media literacy skills. Information and communication technology (ICT)
is “the ability to use technology to
develop 21st century content knowledge and skills in support of 21st century
teaching and learning” (Partnership for 21st century
skills, 2011) .
The framework then goes into the life skills that are needed which include ethics
and accountability, just to name a few listed. The framework ends with the type
of assessments that should be implemented for 21st century skills.
According to the site: “To be effective, sustainable and affordable,
assessments must use modern technologies to increase efficiency and timeliness.
Standardized tests alone can measure only a few of the important skills and
knowledge students should learn. A balance of assessments, including high
quality standardized testing, along with effective classroom assessments; offer
students a powerful way to master the content and skills central to success” (Partnership for 21st century skills, 2011) .
When looking over the laundry list
of skills that we must teach our students for the 21st century, the
task is daunting. Some of these skills we have long taught while others should
be the domain of parents and religious organizations. However, I can understand
why we, the teachers, are the role models for a large majority of our students.
I would like input from my colleagues. What do you think of these skills? How do
we incorporate all of these skills into the classroom? Personally, schools
would have to change. There can no longer be constant interruptions from senior
trips, proms, dances, assemblies to test days. You cannot cover this amount of
material from September until March when the big state tests are given, then
cover more for May when the AP exams are given, covering more for early June
when the End of Course state tests are given. Seriously?! Let us teach! Do not
interrupt the classroom flow, there should be no state assessments in March,
the state assessments should all be changed to End of Course exams that are
given the first week in June. Giving assessments along these lines will enable
teachers to cover large amounts of required skills and content in an
uninterrupted fashion, keeping the flow moving, enabling students to get the scope
and sequence of the course in preparation for one large test in June.
Works Cited
Partnership for 21st century skills. (2011). (Partnership for 21st century skills)
Retrieved January 23, 2012, from http://www.p21.org/
I agree. I think it is crazy that we have to teach all of the assessment frameworks by the beginning of March. We have three months left of the school year!
ReplyDeleteI know, through on top of that all of the time we miss with instruction for the "fun" stuff.....it's nearly impossible to cover everything.
ReplyDeleteI love this point that you found:
ReplyDelete"Standardized tests alone can measure only a few of the important skills and knowledge students should learn. A balance of assessments, including high quality standardized testing, along with effective classroom assessments; offer students a powerful way to master the content and skills central to success” (Partnership for 21st century skills, 2011).
I agree---but then WHY is there so much pressure put on us to teach to the standardized test!? All we focus on any more is test scores! Not to mention, our standardized tests are not what I'd call high quality. Sure, they're difficult, but shouldn't we be measuring much, much more than a student's reading comprehension? Just a thought...I really like the idea of teaching 21st century skills.
I too was disappointed at the fee for reading aspect of the website. Businesses should work "in partnership" with those in the educational community who have limited resources to spend. Making us pay for information that would empower us to create the next generation of learners is frustrating as well as disenfranchising. That being said, there is a great deal of information to be had at the touch of a mouse.
ReplyDeleteAs you pointed out, the standards that we continue to hold our students accountable for are definitely in need of updating in light of the technological advances that have transpired in the last few years. It behooves us all as educators to try to infuse our curriculum with as many of these 21st century skills as possible.