Partnership for 21st Century Skills

What is happening in Mrs. Bissett's classroom this week?

Partnership for 21st Century Skills

This website Partnership for 21st Century Skills (http://www.p21.org/) is new to me.  I explored the website and familiarized myself with their mission, the members of the partnership, and the information available.  This website includes key elements of 21st century learning, and steps to build momentum.  Leaders in business and education are creating a vision for educating our students for the 21st century, and launching a public awareness about the need for change.  I am very excited about the wonderful national dialogues this website is opening up on the need for curriculum and assessments to reflect 21st century realities. 

The vision that the partnership lays out not only includes standards, assessments, and accountability measures, but also the skills needed for the 21st century.  I love how they clearly outline six key elements: 1)emphasize core subjects 2)emphasize learning skills 3)use 21st century tools to develop learning skills 4)teach and learn in a 21st century context 5)teach and learn 21st century content and 6)use 21st century assessments that measure 21st century skills.  Further explanations of these elements can be found on the following link: http://www.p21.org/images/stories/otherdocs/p21up_Report.pdf.   I would like to address the fifth key element in particular.  Business leaders know that students coming into the workplace need to have global awareness, financial, economic and business literacy.  This content needs to be included in the curriculum.  I think this is important for high school and college aged students.  I teach 2nd grade, so not so much for them.  My students, however, have much more global awareness than I did as a child.  Also, I completely agree with element number six.  We absolutely have to have 21st century assessments to measure 21st century skills.  Our current assessments only measure core subjects.

Our students today are immersed in 21 century technology skills, at home.  Even my 2nd graders know how to search the web for information, use email, play video games, use iPods & iPads, and text.  The upper graders connect with friends on social networks, use digital cameras and download their photos, and make PowerPoint presentations.  Youth today are quite fearless at using technology.  The implications all of this has on educators is that we need to keep educating ourselves about the many uses of technology out there.  We must keep teaching core subjects, but also integrate 21st century tools and content into education.

Some states are integrating ICT literacy into their curriculum and core academic standards.  I was surprised to find that my state, California, was not on the list.  California is usually on the cutting edge of business, and many new innovations.   

Reference List

Partnership for 21st Century Skills. (n.d.). A report and mile guide for 21st century skills. Retrieved from 

http://www.p21.org/images/stories/otherdocs/p21up_Reports.pdf  

What is happening in Mrs. Bissett's classroom this week?

 

Each child in my 2nd grade classroom is in the process of writing a paragraph about why it is important to be kind to other people.  They are also coming up with different ways to show kindness.  I will be publishing my favorite paragraph on this classroom newsletter, later this week.

My favorite paragraph was written by Emma.  Her title is "Filling Someone's Bucket", which means being kind to others and filling them with good feelings.

Filling Someone's Bucket

It is important to be kind to others, because it makes other people happy.  Here are some ways you can be nice to a friend.  You can bring a lunch for someone if they don't have a lunch.  You can smile at someone.  Another way is to give a gift to someone.  If they do not have that much money, pay for their lunch.  From your garden, you can pick a flower for your mom or dad and always remember to give them a kiss!

I am currently teaching 2nd grade, and have decided to try out my first blog as a Classroom Newsletter that reports one positive event in our classroom each week.  I am trying to reinforce being kind to one another by publishing something special that one of them, or all of them, have done for someone.  When discussing this with my class, Elizabeth (one of the girls in my class) told me about something she was going to do for others on her birthday coming up.  Instead of getting presents from her friends, she is asking for all of them to donate to a charity of her choice.  This charity provides mosquito nets for poor people to sleep in.  These poor people are getting bitten by mosquitos and contracting diseases that they are unable to get medicine for. 


I think this newsletter is going to be a very positive thing, and encourage my students to think about others.  I have told my students that what I publish on my website is out there for the whole world to see.  They think that is very cool.  This is one way to teach them technology can connect them with the rest of the world.