My initial reaction to the Partnership for 21st Learning was overwhelming. The web site is full of so much information I did not know where to begin. In the overview section I was able to gain a sense of what the partnership is about. I started by reading about the Skills Framework. I was pleased to see that in the core subjects section of the frame work that all the traditional subjects are included. Just today at school the social studies department had an emergency meeting to discuss new legislation that is looking to remove social studies from the states high school graduation requirements. In the state of Colorado all students take a standardized test that covers reading, writing, and math every year with science being tested every four years. As a result there is a much higher emphasis placed on Math and Language Arts not mention pressure on those teachers. I see value in all the Core subjects and am pleased that subjects like art, world languages, geography, and history listed. I also find the 21st Century Themes to be refreshing. Just today I was reading an article in 5280 about Colorado having the lowest obesity rate in America at around 19%. That translates to one fifth of the state being obese "Not chubby. Not carrying around 10 extra pounds. Obese. Which means that excess fat has built up in the body to the point it can negatively effect ones health," (Koehler, 2007). This fact about the skinniest state in the union really emphasizes the importance of Health literacy as a 21st Century skill. I also see great value in Global awareness and Environmental literacy as well.
After learning about the framework I started to look into the tools and resources section to try and find some tools that I can use to help teach some of these skills to my students. While searching through the tools I found Route 21 which delves deeper into the framework and provides resources for the core subjects and 21st Century themes. While there I found some useful resources. The first one is 21st Century Information Fluency. This site provides tools for effectively researching information on the internet, evaluating the reliability of the material, and citing that material using a variety of formats. There are also search challenges which are activities that students can do to learn about how to effectively use a keyword search. Another link that I found useful was 21st Century Questions. This site is a blog where teachers collaborate to, "set up a free open space online where teachers can pool quality 21st century questions, and give students the free online tools they need to explore them individually or collaboratively," (21st Century). These questions do a great job of prompting students to think about relevant issues and prompt them to use 21st century skills to respond to them.
As an educator I can use the Partnership for 21st Century Skills to help inform decisions I make about what I teach and how I choose to teach it. I will also use it as a resource to help me find information and tools to use in my instruction. By using this sight and its vast resources I can begin to teach 21st Century skills to my students.
References:
Koehler, L. (2010). The last lean americans. 5280, 2010(18), 73-79
Partnership for 21st Learning
Route 21
21st Century Information Fluency
21st Century Questions
Koehler, L. (2010). The last lean americans. 5280, 2010(18), 73-79.
Hi Nick,
ReplyDeleteThank you for posting the link to the 21st Century Information Fluency website. When I was looking around the P21 site, I couldn't find any leveled lesson plan ideas for the classroom. They are currently changing to a different database system, so all lesson plans are unavailable until further notice. I hope it will be a good resource.
Did it take awhile for you to find these resources? There is so much information available to peruse. I am wondering if they need to categorize and label their resources in a different manner to make it easier for visitors to find what they need.
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ReplyDeleteNick, The 21st Century Questions website is a good resource to use and I also found it very helpful for posting questions that I had about 21st Century Skills. At my school, we don't emphasize the importance of incorporating strategies to address the standards of the 21st Century. I know that most teachers are going to implement most if not all of the strategies because lessons that are challenging are going to require students to use their critical thinking , collaboration, communication, and problem solving skills. I found it interesting that I seldom hear administrators or other educators using the terms 21st Century skills to their staff. I think that all teachers need to become familiar with the requirements for the 21st Century so that they will make sure that they are preparing students for 21st century careers. Do you feel that 21st Century standards are stress enough at the local level (school)?
ReplyDeleteI know that at my school the emphasis is placed on state wide testing and improving those scores. As I continue to read about 21st Century skills the more I realize my district is not focusing on them to the extent we need to.
ReplyDeleteNick
ReplyDeleteYou’re absolutely correct in stating there is a “much higher emphasis on subjects such as Math and Language arts”, but what does it all mean if our students are not healthy enough to be active members of tomorrow’s workforce. As a physical education and health teacher I cannot stress enough the importance of teaching Health Literacy to our students. I commend the efforts of PS21 for including health literacy in their framework, but at the same time I don’t know if they place enough emphasis on it. The core subjects have always been a stable in education and are essential for our young students, but the fact still remains that students are less health then they were in the past and this makes it harder to educate them effectively. I personally have seen students who are so overwhelmed with health concerns that it has negatively impacted their education.
According to the CDC “In 2009, no state met the Healthy People 2010 obesity target of 15%, and the self-reported overall prevalence of obesity among U.S. adults had increased 1.1 percentage points from 2007”, this is alarming and it says a lot about how the country is going in regards to health education and disease prevention. If educating our students to meet the demands of the 21st century is of such importance why don’t we address the health concerns of the students first so they are mentally and physically ready to learn all the 21 readiness skills that PS21 is prescribing? The framework and resources that PS21 offers is great for educators but we must realize that as educators we need to know how we can prepare our students better in order to implement its foundational ideas and views. Do you feel that the educational system would benefit from having healthy students? I certainly do and I’m sure you do too. So where we go from here is the question that educators like you and I have to ask ourselves.
References:
Partnership for Twenty-First Century Skills (P21). Health Literacy. Retrieved September 29, 2010 from http://www.p21.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=259&Itemid=120
Center for Disease Control (CDC). Vital Signs: State-Specific Obesity Prevalence Among Adults --- United States, 2009. Retrieved October 3, 2010 from
http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm59e0803a1.htm?s_cid=mm59e0803a1_e%0D%0A