Hope for 21st century skills

Reading through the article “The partnership for 21st century skills”, was refreshing to me because of the “scary” article “The world is flat”, it is refreshing to know that people are aware and are trying to do something about the digital disconnect.
My surprise is the wide range of support the partnership has been able to garner from the federal to state to local business educational and even parents and families. I would expect that with that wide range of support, all teachers should have known about its existence and mobilized it for its support. I think more work needs to be done in getting every teacher to know, appreciate the need, support and implement the partnership vision.
The implication for my students is probably that the days of “double lives” are over. The technology saturated life outside the school can be merged with that inside the school. School and its knowledge/skill will become more relevant and transferable. It is then we can hope that the knowledge of core subject as is being taught will not be intrusion from the past but rather as skill necessary for the future. Kids will be prepared to live and work and over the challenges of 21st century.

Partnership for 21st Century Skills. (n.d.). A report and mile guide for 21st century skills. Washington DC: Author. Retrieved from http://www.21stcenturyskills.org/images/stories/otherdocs/p21up_Report.pdf

Blogging as I see it

I had used blogging a few times in the past but never appreciated it as a powerful teaching tool until now. Since going through this class, I have come to lose my skepticism on the effectiveness of blogging as a teaching tool. I can see in it, a potential of helping teachers in the nearest future.

Science lesson

One way of using blog in my classroom is to give the students a list of objectives and expectations posted on the web blog and ask them to go and research using resources. My expectation can be a project, problem solving. A rubric of the learning outcome will also be posted to guide the students learning.
This activity will enable the students to take ownership of their learning. It gives them a feeling of independence and sense of achievement while learning from their peers which may even be non group members. It also gives them opportunity to practice the use of web.
The grade level is 09, science. A blog will be a good instructional tool in this context because it motivates and increases student engagement. it exposes the students to a wide source of knowledge and promote deep thinking.

Teaching today

Teaching today is becoming more challenging than it was years ago. The volume of new technology that is churned into the web everyday is inundating to say the least. The teacher is expected to change the practice of teaching to accommodate all these changes. Changes however is not so easy for several reasons:
One, The nature of man is reluctant to change. secondly, Educational administrators that are demanding a change from teachers are not backing up request with necessary finance and training. The few circumstances that the technology is available are constrained by the rigid curriculum. In it all, teachers are not necessarily the best paid around but more demands are being made on them. This of course puts a stress on teachers. What the future holds for teachers in all this is a food for thought. The students that we are to teach are already estranged as their hearts have been sold to emerging technology.