 |
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 21st 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 21st 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 21st
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 21st
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 21st 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 21st
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.
As a fellow art teacher, I agree that the 21st century skills easily used in our subject area. I love to see art included in a mainstream site! We usually have to "dig" for relevant information.
ReplyDeleteI agree that funding is a huge issue when discussing 21st century skills. It would be helpful if the site included ways to promote technology growth, such as grant writing.
My state is not involved in P21 either. Do you think there will be a push in upcoming years for states to use this framework? What will be the tipping point? Do you think the states who follow P21 have legislators who also fund more technology in schools?
I too, found the website to be a bit overwhelming. However, I also feel that understanding the concept of 21st Century teaching and what that means can be overwhelming for many teachers--especially new teachers--and feel it may be better to provide too much information rather than too little. I have to acknowledge your thoughts though as I spent quite a bit of time on the site as well and never saw anything associated to art. I guess you have a trained eye for locating information concerning your passion.
ReplyDeleteAlthough my state has recently join the commitment to teach using 21st century skills, I admit to wondering if it is simply because they felt it was the right thing to do. With the current financial crisis in my state, I cannot imagine how or when they will begin to fund such a project either.