In reading The Partnership for 21st Century Skills found that much of the information was interesting but seemed familiar to me. A lot of the information on the website reminded me of the ideas I had heard during SIOP trainings. Such ideas like the Core subject being important to give the kids a strong foundation, bringing the world to the classroom and the classroom to the world to build knowledge those are all things that I have heard before. Some of the information was not so familiar but made a ton of sense such as the list of desirable skills. As a teacher I look for the ability to make decisions, work as a team, communicate, learn new technologies, and acquiring knowledge in my students so it makes perfect sense that an employer would look for that and expect those skills in an employee. I also agree with the view on content that was presented I think that students need to have a mutual respect, they need to be able to make responsible and reasonable financial decisions, they should also be well informed on politics so that they can make educated decisions. The other content mentioned I believe is already being implemented whether on purpose or naturally. I believe that most students today are already somewhat globally aware by how small and integrated the world has become, also many students today are bilingual I only teach 2nd grade and I have children that are already fluent in both languages. I think that the most interesting piece that I read was to know that some of the skills that I am teaching students today will be obsolete in three to five years. It is very surprising to me that information will expire so quickly, it is a great reminder to me that I need to be constantly be reevaluating my teaching and changing my strategies to keep up with the present. I think that this website will cause some teachers to adapt their way of thinking when it comes to planning activities with children. As for the students I think that this will put more personal responsibility on them, they will be held accountable for their education and actions.
http://www.21stcenturyskills.org/images/stories/otherdocs/p21up_Report.pdf
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I wouldn't get too worried about the obsolete comments made by people. I hear them all the time. In college, I was told my TV plug in would be obsolete in the future. I can still plug my TV into the wall the same way I did in college. Your post made me think of the time my school district hired this guy to present to us the ideas for the future students. He mentioned we would all by obsolete because the world would soon be plugging in kids and downloading the skills necessary for them in the future. I thought to myself, what parent would allow their child to even be experimented on to help this process along?
ReplyDeleteHey Chris,
ReplyDeleteI agree about people sometimes getting too "worked-up" about things becoming obsolete so quickly.
Many feel that calculators have made many computational skills obsolete for students, which has created other potential issues in education. Subsequently, I have noticed recently that there is a bit of a push for a return to the basics as the foundation for deeper learning. That implies to me that society should take their collective time and really consider the consequences of seeking to make "things" obsolete so quickly.
To me, the skills taught by determined, dedicated, forward thinking teachers will be hard to replace.