The Partnership for 21st Century Skills

On Businessweek.com, Don Tapscott and Anthony Williams wrote “Thanks in part to younger workers, more companies are using social computing tools to aid collaboration and to foster innovation and growth” (2007).  Technology in the business world has become critical for success.  The education world needs to catch-up in order for our students to be prepared for the future. 

This week I have been exploring The Partnership for 21^st Century Skills website.  This partnership of nineteen states (sadly, mine is not one of them) that has laid out a framework for developing these skills with support systems and student outcomes.  The student outcomes are life and career skills, learning and innovation skills, information, and media and technology skills all through core subjects and 21^st century themes.  The support system includes standards and assessments, curriculum and instruction, professional development, and learning environments. This site has a free copy of their P21 Common Core State Standards Toolkit that is free to download.

As an art teacher, I found the 21^st Century Skills Map for the Arts quite helpful.  Art lends itself so easily to these skills.  I particularly enjoyed the examples of student activities.

While The Partnership for 21^st Century Skills website is full of useful resources, I found it a bit overwhelming to navigate.  Even though I spent quite a lot of time exploring the site, I feel as though there is still a useful information that I have yet to find. An option to search the site would be more convenient and less time consuming.

The goals of this partnership will be extremely important for our students to be successful in the future workforce. Some of the aims seem so far out of reach.  So many public schools lack funds not only for the physical technology tools but also for the staff development to keep teachers up to date on providing their students with the opportunities to develop these 21^st century skills.  On the flip side, many students do not have access to the technology needed to complete certain tasks outside of school.

I will continue to help my students to develop 21^st century skills to the best of my ability.  This new resources will come in handy when planning lessons for the upcoming school year.

References

Partnership for 21st Century Skills. (n.d.). A report and mile guide for 21st century skills. Washington DC: Author. Retrieved from http://www.p21.org/storage/documents/P21_Report.pdf

Tapscott, D., & Williams, A. (2007, March 26). The wiki workplace. Businessweek.com.

Blogs in the Elementary Art Room

Originally, I created this blog as a spot to share my elementary art lesson plans with other educators. My plans are to upload photos, demonstrations, and lesson plans of current and past lessons that have worked for me. My experiences with blogs has been very one sided. I already subscribe (beg, borrow, and steal ideas and lessons) to so many of my fellow art teachers’ blogs, it is time I start to contribute!

Why should I just limit my blog to just educators? As my summer break gets shorter and shorter and I dive deeper into my pursuit of a Master Degree of Science Education – Integrating Technology in the Classroom, my mind is filled with possibilities for my students to use a blog.  David Thornburg describes multiple ways in which the technology and information age as shrunk space (2010b).  Information can travel across the globe in a matter of seconds.  I want my students so benefit from this sharing of information.  In the fall, I plan on having my students share photos of their artwork and participate in online critiques of their fellow classmates’ art or maybe even artwork from another region.  My little artists could receive feedback and suggestions on their work as well as being influenced by other artists online.  When students are asked to write or communicate to an audience larger than just their teacher, more thought and planning is put into their work.   Students may also be able to set up an online portfolio for their work because all educators know how responsible certain students can be.  

Dr. Thornburg also states that “Creativity will be needed to apply the benefits of new technologies in education” (2010a).  One of the most important aspects of my job is to encourage creativity and foster problem solving.  My students strive to be individuals.  With a larger audience my students will post more original content as opposed to rephrasing what another classmate as already said. This process does not have to be limited to just young artist.  Why not involve parents, students’ other teachers, and even administrators?

I have never used a blog in my classroom other than for references.  My students have never participated.  Any fellow educators cruising the inter-webs have any suggestions for a first-timer?

References

Laureate Education, Inc. (2010a). Technology and society. Baltimore, MD: Author.

Laureate Education, Enc. (2010b). The third wave. Baltimore, MD: Author.