This site contains all the information, and more, that would have been useful to me for the past two years, when I participated in my district's rollout of G.L.I.D.E.S (Global Learning Initiative for Digital Education for Students). While the workshops I took at that time were definitely eye-openers for me, I really did not have the total concept of how important digital education and the accompanying 21st Century skills are in today's workplace, or how essential they are to global (and local) problem-solving. Of course I thought that digital tools were cool and exciting, and certainly learning to collaborate is an important skill for middle school students to learn, somehow all the pieces never really came together for me, and mentally I was still looking for students to come up with the answer based on research, as opposed to sharing points of view.
As I browsed through the list of partners on the website, I began to understand that with the diverse array of companies, this initiative is really important. I also was surprised to find that funding for 21st century skills was signed into law as the 21st Century Skill Incentive Fund Act. I want to find out if the funding for the Promethean boards in our school comes from that funding; I also want to get more involved in advocating for the incorporation of 21st Century skills into the district curriculum.
Right now, I'm not sure that I disagree with anything on the website escept for the fact that this technology has not reached as many children in as many classrooms as it ought to have reached. Why is the concept of 21st Century skills not being disseminated to all educators? Why is this funding not trickling down to all the students who need it most?
Living as I do in Florida, I also have some serious concerns for implications in the near future. We are supposedly readying ourselves to welcome an influx of Haitian students, many orphans, into our district quite soon; how can we offer them the best possible education without being technologically prepared, that is, without having all the resources available to them so that they can best learn how to survive in a modern society? We do not have these resources for all the students we have now, and even if they are available, teachers do not have the training necessary to use these resources. I find myself asking what I can do to speed up the process of getting teachers trained. Most teachers claim that they have no time, because they are too busy preparing their students for standardized testing. The key is to convince these teachers, along with administrators and district policy-makers, that change must occur through our initiative: if testing will not change, then we must change testing. I need to find other teachers who are thinking along these lines, and investigate further on how to become a state partner with this movement. I want Florida to be one of the 25 states that will be a partner with this intiative by 2014, as predicted by Ken Kay, the President of Partnership for 21st Century skills. Ironically, 2014 is the year in which all schools are supposed to reach 100% AYP.
I was interested to find videos on this site that showed how teachers incorporate skill-building in technology into their curricula, links to project-based learning resources, and to international learning sites. This is definitely a site I will return to in the near future.
The Partnership for 21st Century Skills
Tanner,
ReplyDeleteI can tell from reading your blog that you are genuinely interested in modernizing your classroom, your school and your state. If each of us create engaging experiences for our students, other teachers will see what is happening and follow. You are providing leadership through your actions.
As for the Haitian refugee influx, I expect that these young people will be adjusting to the stress of cultural integration. They will be worried about their future, wondering what will happen to them. As long as your faculty and student body are welcoming, these new students will not feel slighted because of a lack of technology available to them. Thank you for sharing.
You certainly are passionate about this and it's that passion that will drive change. It is refreshing to hear someone thinking of solutions instead of just dwelling on the problems. Kudos!
ReplyDeleteI had a thought about the underlying focus of this website. Could this site, in cooperation with some of the biggest technology- and education-based corporations, offer grants for incorporating, advancing and replacing existing technology? Of all collaborative sites geared to advance education through technology this group would certainly understand the benefit of the investment.
As for the Haitian immigrants, hopefully thoughtful consideration will play a major role in the health, well being and education of these children. Didn't the state of Florida just go through serious budget cuts in funding programs across the board? What is the current thinking?
Yes, WE did just go through serious budget cuts that have affected education in manifold ways. The only word so far is that we should expect immigrants. The earthquake was so recent that very little thinking about how to deal with their arrival with financial preparedness has filtered down. I hope that "thinking" is actually going on.
ReplyDeleteI also noticed the diversity of corporations and other entities associated with the 21st Century Skills initiative. I am impressed by the collaboration that is happening just to make this model. I hope, as you do, that this word can be spread to the teachers in the classroom in a positive and feasible manner so that we may begin to actually move forward in a timely fashion. I am sad to think about how long it may have been before I was aware of the importance of these skills (especially the skills closely related to our ever-changing digital world) had it not been for my participation in this course.
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