Preparing Today's Students for the 21st Century

Today educators are required to do more than teach the core curriculum. It seems the core curriculum is a framework for the rest of education to be built on. With that framework we are adding new requirements and expectations that are to be met in order to better prepare today's students with critical skills for the future. It is through an understanding that the skill set required to be successful in the 21st century that the P21 organization was created. The Partnership for the 21st Century Skills was created to raise an awareness for teachers, administrators, political figures, and the public eye on how to better prepare today's students with the skills of the future.

Reaction to P21

This was my first exposure to P21. It is important to know that the P21 campaign is not trying to push their agenda ahead of everything else that is done in classrooms. They clearly state that their goal is to provide resources to educators that enable them to incorporate the needed skills while still addressing the three Rs (reading, writing, and arithmetic). P21 states that it is necessary for teachers to provide their students the instruction and opportunities to develop abilities in critical thinking, communicating, collaborating, and expressing creativity (the 4 C's). All of this is intended to be infused with what many teachers are already doing. The mission of P21 is to serve as a catalyst for which 21st readiness is promoted through collaborative partnerships with educators, businesses, communities, and business leaders. I find that P21 has recognized an important need in the development of the future's work force. They have set up a realistic system that can be utilized to get educators off to a strong start in preparing students with the critical skills they will need.

Surprising Information

Considering this was my first exposure to P21 I was a bit skeptical as to whether or not it was a legitimate and influential organization. What kind of a following did it have? Who is backing up the claims of P21? After looking over the website I was intrigued when I found some big name supporters. P21 has partnered with 38 well known businesses, such as Apple, Scholastic Education, Verizon, and Walt Disney. Not only did the significance of such iconic companies gain my support, but it also showed me that P21 is practicing the very things that it believes in, such as collaboration.

Agree of Disagree?

From the information I have come across I find it hard not to agree with P21's mission. I find that the need for 21st century skills is only becoming greater with every new day. As educators we need to be proactive in terms of adequately preparing students for the future. It means we have to identify ways in which the "Four C's" can be incorporated into what we are already doing. P21 is providing resources so that this can be more attainable. Preparing students for tomorrow is what teachers do, and for that to happen we can not allow ourselves to become stuck in only teaching content that was relevant to yesterday's students.

The Implications

Effective teaching is never done "by the book." I have found that many people outside the education circle (and even some in it) think that teaching is following a teachers manual, assigning such and such pages, having papers graded, and holding an occasional conference. Any good educator knows that all students learn in different ways. Part of being effective in our instruction means being able to remain innovative and stay on our toes. Instead of becoming flustered with the idea that 21st century skills are just one more thing we have to teach our students, we must find ways to incorporate the aforementioned skills. P21 was not designed to bog down the educational system. P21's purpose is to assist educators in implementing practices that provide the skills to students. To effectively put these skills into practice it requires educators to make an effort to implement these skills. Instead of living "by the book" we have to dare to step outside of our comfort zones. We have to dare our students to step outside of their comfort zones as well. We have to give students the chance to think critically, communicate, collaborate, and express creativity. When teachers become overwhelmed with too much on their plate they feel like they have to drop something that they have been doing in order to make room. This is not the case. Instead, educators should be looking for ways to teach the same content, but in a way that while covering that content, today's necessary skills are practiced and utilized. We are not supposed to diffuse old information, rather we are to infuse the new information.

Blogging for 2nd Graders

My second grade students range from ages seven to nine. My students receive language arts, math, science, social studies, and even art instruction from me. Their abilities in and exposure to technology are all over the board. Regardless of the previously mentioned information I have found that this does not change their feelings towards technology implementation. Anytime we have a chance to use technology to assist in our learning there is a buzz in the room, a new found excitement for what we are about to do.

A blog is a diverse tool that can be utilized in a number of ways. My challenge is determining the best way to make it useful and meaningful for my population of students. Being that we do not have a full computer lab, or computers available to all of my students I feel the best implementation would be as a home extension. I would like to communicate to my students' parents the fact that I have a blog. I could use the blog as a form of communication with the parents of my students. A cyber newsletter. I could provide my students with extension activities. Possibly PowerPoints, videos, interactive websites, or other websites I would like for them to visit. I could encourage my students to make comments about the resources that I provide for them to check out. I could also spotlight some of my students work on the blog. It could be used to point out what quality work looks like. Essentially, the blog could be used to raise an awareness of what is being accomplished in the classroom and provide my students with extended opportunities to build upon what they learned in class. It's a chance to make a difference outside of the classroom.

Technology Taken to the Classroom

It is obvious that I have a passion for technology. I have learned to enjoy the anticipation of what the next big thing will be. How will it change my life? How will it change my classroom? How will it change the world as we have come to know it?

Reflecting on my upbringing I remember key moments in my technological history, such as my family's first personal computer (and the countless games of solitaire I played on it), my first scientific calculator, graphing calculator, dial up internet access, cell phones, high speed wireless networks, and so on. The list goes on and on. The list is also ever changing. These are just some of the changes that have taken place during my short life time. I am challenged to think about what kinds of changes can be expected in the technological realm for today's students. I truly believe that only time will tell.

As a teacher we are challenged to determine the best uses and practices of today's educational technology. I have found many wonderful and engaging uses, such as interactive review games through use of a smart board, streaming media to supplement lessons, a classroom webpage to keep parents and students updated, as well as virtual field trips through video conferencing sessions. I am curious as to what other teachers in today's classrooms have found to be useful, practical, and effective uses of technology in their classrooms.