What are 21st-century
skills? This week for class, we had to explore the website for The Partnership for 21st Century Skills and give our own evaluation
of the information presented. This partnership is pushing to
educate every student on the 21st century skills we need in order to
compete in a global economy. For
me, as a math teacher, I focused in on the framework and concept mapping for mathematics skills. If you feel like reading along- Click HERE!
The mathematic skills included
were; creativity and innovation, critical thinking and problem solving,
communication and collaboration, information literacy, media literacy,
information/communication/technology literacy, flexibility and adaptability,
initiative and self-direction, social and cross-cultural skills, productivity
and accountability, and finally, leadership and responsibility. Most of these
skills, I already teach in my classroom, but I was made aware of some concepts
and skills that I need to practice more with my students.
The Partnership for 21st
Century Skills (P21) has its own initiative here in Ohio and it looks to be a
good thing. The only issue I have
with the initiative is the “21st Century Assessments” section of the
plan. The fifth strategy (about
assessment) talks about the international effort to modernize assessment. I agree with the idea that assessment
needs to become something new, and more modern. Expecting every student to be assessed the same way is a
complete contradiction to their individual learning styles. Unfortunately, I have a hard time
believing that the U.S. will make the right decision in regards to
assessment. Education has been on
a downhill slope for quite a while and it seems that new standardized
assessments are coming out every few years; the previous test eliminated
because it set the bar too low for the students.
The expectations of this program
are not overwhelming or unrealistic and I think these skills are what students
need to be focusing on anyway. In
math, there are so many more important things to learn than finding the square
root of a number or factoring a polynomial. Students need to learn to prioritize, and evaluate their
work; they need to understand data and have the ability to reason and articulate
their own thoughts. The 21st
century is a fast-moving, technology-saturated place and students need to feel
prepared for the real world before
they leave high school.
Feel free to leave me your thoughts! If you're a teacher, definitely check out the website... it's worth the visit.
-Kate
Feel free to leave me your thoughts! If you're a teacher, definitely check out the website... it's worth the visit.
-Kate
Hi Kate
ReplyDeleteI agree about the assessments in the US. My school district is implementing a new assessment called PARRC next year. This assessment is suppose to push rigor and critical thinking skills for our students. However, students do learn in their own learning style and I'm not sure this new assessment will take their learning styles into consideration. Furthermore, I agree with your statement about the expectations of this program are not overwhelming or unrealistic.
Ella Owoundi
Kate, I am currently filling a short leave of absence for a high school Algebra 1 and 2 teacher (I am actually qualified K6). Every day the students ask why they need to learn the day’s lesson – when will they ever use this in real life? Your last paragraph discussing that there is a lot more to math than simply what they see or do in the classroom is exactly right. You also mentioned how P21 wishes to modernize assessment. As an educator, we are always being told to provide a variety of assessments in order to assess students’ real knowledge. Yet, state testing is still a one-test-fits-all. Hopefully, assessment will be modernized soon.
ReplyDeleteI do have a technological question. I tried to insert several links into my blog (I’m on BlogSpot as well), but the link did not want to show up on the post. I clicked the “link” button inside the text box for the post. Did you do something different? Thanks!
Christine-
DeleteI clicked the "link" button, put the URL in it's place and then named the link something like "click HERE", finally, there's a little box that says to open in a new window and I clicked that too.
Hope that helps!
Thanks!! I'll try it again soon :)
DeleteKate,
ReplyDeleteYou make great points in your post! I agree with you in your assessment statement that "Expecting every student to be assessed the same way is a complete contradiction to their individual learning styles." I teach students with learning disabilities and they have IEP's (Individualized Education Plans) and they are to be taught according to their learning levels. However, as teachers differentiate their teaching to these students, the government states that these students need to take the same state exam (Keystone Exams here in Pa.) as students without disabilities! Double standard ya think??!! You hit the nail on the head with your comments! You also make a great point that Christine mentions about math---I agree as I'm a math teacher!