Today I visited the Partnership for 21st Century Skills. My first reaction to the website is that it was a bit plain and not eye catching. I thought when I was going to pull up the website it would we full of videos, podcasting, and full of the technology that they are promoting. I was surprised that Ohio is not part of the state work listed in the state initiatives. I feel like the education I am teaching and the state curriculum in Ohio is promoting these 21st century skills. On the first day of school, our principal, talked about what skills our students needed when they graduate and we were to make sure that these initiatives were included in our lessons. These 21st century skills are very similar to what he was talking about.
I did not find anything on the site that I disagreed with and I actually welcome the effort of the government, business leaders, and schools working together to help the students. I teach a career and technical education program in Dayton, Ohio. My pathway is business management. The lessons I am teaching now and have been teaching promote most of these initiatives given on this website. The two I focus on the most are communication skills and business literacy. Having this website as a recruitment tool is going to be huge. I am always telling my students what they need to know when they graduate and this will give me one more place to send them to reiterate what I have been preaching to them so far. The website will also give me a place to turn to as the initiatives change. In 5 or 10 years they may be different so I can check and see what has changed and how I need to change my lessons to incorporate anything new.
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I found the web site a little plan too, but I think they did that for a reason. Most people are still afraid of technology and are unsure of how it can help improve the learning process. In the curriculum you teach you must find this web site resourceful. My favorite link on the web site was Route 21. Route 21 includes pictures and diagrams of how the 21st century work skills impact learning. I also found a link called P21 that included videos of 21st century work skills in action. I am glad that you have found something that you can use in your classroom that will allow your students to understand the skills they will be required to know in order to be successful in the work environment.
ReplyDeleteVictoria Osborn
I found the site to be full of literature and reading, rather than the videos and hyperlinks you mention. However, after viewing different pages within the site, I did discover the massive explosion of information regarding the skills the page alludes to by name. I was shocked to see so few states are part of the programs already, Michigan is missing, too, but it was a let-down, not a shock. I am happy to have found the Route 21 and the Geography & Science maps have been added. I cannot find them because the site is not easy to navigate, but I am glad they are out there to be found!
ReplyDeleteI found the site hard to navigate too. If we are going to use this information to help our students the partnership is going to need to update the website. When going to Route 21, I thought that it was hard to figure out where to click and what all the information was. I also found the diagram too much information to give in that form.People are afraid of technology, but if they plan to promote this technology you would think that they would be using it themselves. I am glad that you have commented on my blog and have given me more information to think about. I am going to try to navigate through the site again.
ReplyDeleteI teach in Ohio as well. Do you feel like you are properly funded to teach and use the most up to date technology successfully? One of the most frustrating things for me is the lack of support from our state leaders. I feel like our leaders talk about how important public education is, but do not put their money where their mouth is. Maybe this recent push for technology, will force them to step up.
ReplyDeleteI do not feel like I have the proper funds to use the most up-to-date technology. I right now have 5 year old computers and there is no push to replace these computers. We are also blocked from a lot of technology that is on the internet. I am trying to download Audacity to complete the podcast assignment and have been denied access. The state wants to add 20 days to the school year but they will not add technology to the curriculum.
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