The Partnership for 21st Century Skills Web site is a great way to gather ideas to incorporate into a classroom. The mission of the leadership organization is 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” (2004). After taking some time to explore the Web site, I have realized the members of this group have the best interests of the kids and their futures in mind. The members of this organization were fairly well known for me and I enjoyed looking through all the educational leaders, businesses, policymakers, and parents involved in the group.
There were a variety of different types of resources available on this site and I enjoyed scanning through the pages. The one that interested me the most was the “Video 21” page. This page has several videos dealing with 21st century skills needed for our children. The first video I viewed dealt with explaining what this organization was about. I enjoyed watching this video because it helped me to see what the framework of this organization was all about. It is to help move students to be better critical thinkers, innovators and problem solvers through the use of technology. They also believe in having students becoming great communicators, which will make them be better global citizens. Our students need to have an idea of the 21st century skills to help them be prepared for the world around them. The members of the Partnership for 21st Century Skills created this video and their top priority is to come together, generate ideas and address issues.
The second video I became interested in was titled “Coin Toss Experiment.” I was intrigued with the title because the unit we are currently teaching, in math, deals with data analysis and probability. In this video, the elementary age students were conducting an experiment with a one thousand-coin toss to see the probability of heads vs. tails. In the lesson, the teacher had the students first make predictions. At this time, if I could have changed the lesson, I would have had the students pair-share with a tablemate so all the students were held accountable for a prediction. This would also have allowed students to have time to collaborate with a peer and hear another way of thinking. Then, the students began the experiment. In order to find the final data, the students used calculators to find the final count. After the data was totaled, the teacher created a bar graph using an Internet graph-making program. I felt this was a valuable lesson for the students and creating a bar graph using this type of technology is great for the students to see.
This page would be a great resource for teachers to help improve their classrooms toward a 21st Century learning environment. The implications for my students and for me as a contemporary educator will be to work on incorporating these easy Internet websites to enable my students to see the tools available for them in the future. If they watch me, or create a graph themselves, on the computer, they will be able to use this tool in the future.
Resources:
The Partnership for 21st Century Skills. 2004. http://www.21stcenturyskills.org/.
I did not even see the "Video 21" link. This is another great resource The Partnership for 21st Century Skills offers. I also enjoyed hearing about the organization. The website incorporates the key skills that students need today and recognize the importance of differentiation. I feel that I was able to take away a lot more after viewing the video on the framework then I did when I read it. A lot of students are the same way. They need that extra reinforcement in order to truly grasp the concept. The videos offer several wonderful ideas on how to incorporate the different skills in the classroom. It adds some comfort to integrating these skills in the classroom because I am able to look at different activities already completed by teachers and see how they went about teaching their students.
ReplyDeleteI agree that there are some terrific resources for teachers to use. In addition to videos, there are a variety of print sources that can be read or downloaded. It is interesting to note that much of what we teach still is essential information for our students, but we must learn to use technology so students can learn the old with a new twist. The results are two-fold since students will be given the opportunity to use new technology, a 21st century skill, and be more motivated to learn.
ReplyDeleteI also agree that the web site holds a wealth of information and resources to help educators and students.
ReplyDeleteYou mentioned the production of graphs. I do not know if you are familiar with Microsoft Excel, but it has a graphing program built into it. It is quite easy to use and to teach students. You can create pie charts, bar graphs, line graphs, and more. Graphing is a great visual aid for any discipline area from science to business.
I like the videos, as well. They provide great examples of innovated lessons and ideas that other teachers can adapt into their classrooms. Your pair-share idea will work because it allows your students to have experience in teamwork, critical thinking skills and problem solving.
ReplyDeleteHi Wendi-
ReplyDeleteI was glad to see you watched a teaching video and reflected about how best to use the techniques in your own classroom. Do you think you could produce a video, podcast or vodcast that might help a colleague? Do you think your students could produce any of these media approaches to demonstrate their understanding of a particular concept?