http://www.21stcenturyskills.org/
The 21st Century Skills website was an interesting read. I took some time today to explore the site and read through its articles and qualifications.
First impression: I was a little worried when the first headline posted on the site mentioned that they had trained 50 people. I'm always skeptical of sites that have big mission statements and goals, but in reality reach very few people. However, after looking at this I immediately went to their FAQ page and looked at the members. Big names! I was impressed with the national scope of the members in this program. So I went back to read the full article about training people and found that this was a program recently started. Fifty people isn't too bad for that.
Looking under their state initiatives section I noticed that they only had 10 sates signed up under their initiative so far. For a program that appears to have been around since 2004 this is not bad, but neither is it anything amazing.
I began going through the resources the site had posted. There were a lot there. The tool they used for their route 21 program with the rainbow and pools was interesting, but a little confusing. Once you chose your section of the tool though there was a lot of useful information to browse through.
I had little to no significant problem with anything I saw on the site. There was a lot of information to go through, but it seemed pretty standard to me. My students wont be affected by this directly yet, as they are in Maryland which isnt one of their states. However it could be in then future so its good to browse through all this program has to offer. I hope to look more at this in the future.
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Were there any skills that you saw listed under the site that you think you could incorporate into your classroom now? My state is not listed as one of the ten either, but I thought this might be a valuable site to have students browse and deliver feedback. I did like the diagram and explanation under Route 21. I thought it would be interesting to print that diagram out and have students write out definitions for each section to see how they compare to the site. I think sometimes we see particular skills as necessary for students, but they may define those skills in another way. It might be a good site for starting dialogue on terminology and communication. I think it is important that students and teachers agree upon what certain skills look like as we pursue them.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Mrs. H. Just because your state isn't participating yet doesn't mean that you can't implement the skills. Your students would only benefit. And, then you would be ahead of the curve when your state does join.
ReplyDeleteThe initial concern about the small numbers of participants is a valid one. I was reflecting on how hard changes are in my own district and decided that this site will have many more participants when teachers, admiinistrators and state representatives grasp the need for students to aquire 21st century skills to compete and succeed. My state of Ohio is also absent from the list of ten. I believe the governor of our state is serious about educational reform, but I have not heard him broach the subject of technology education and support in our school systems as of yet. I agree with Mrs. H and V. White, there is nothing stopping us from implementing the skills see on this site in our classes regardless.
ReplyDeleteI was also concerned about the low number of state participants. Susan mentions that her state's governor has not mentioned technology in schools. What is her state doing with funding? My state (California) is currently in a free-fall, and there is no parachute. They have cut away most of our funding, and layoffs are prevalent. I feel fortunate to have a job. I am not going to worry about technology money.
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