Feelings About The Partnership for the 21st Century

After viewing the site for The Partnership for the 21st Century I started to think about how great this would have been if this was around when I was in school. I look at the focus topics that they discuss and it goes deeper than just the basic subjects. It goes into the economy and how to think in diverse situations. Education today is lacking so many of those skills I feel like students are not prepared for what lies ahead of them career wise because they have not been equipped with the information yet. It is great how a program wants our students to succeed not only in the classroom but in the future as well. With this program you can really see how students can benefit in school and when they are out of school as well. As a teacher I would feel more confident that my student can make it out in the real world.

One thing that surprised me about the website was that my state was not listed for State Incentives. It is funny how the state wants a push for education and technology to work together and how just the other day I had to take a technology survey to see where I stood with technology for the state but we are not incorporating programs such as this to help our students out? We talk about how our students in my county are not living up to their potential or are not making it past high school. Did we ever think maybe it was because of what and how we were teaching the students? My brother who was an average student in high school went to college for maybe a week and quite. When I asked him why he said it was too hard and too much work. So what is wrong with this picture? Wasn’t high school supposed to prepare you for this? After that my brother went and got a job as an electrician, and still hated working and hated the hours but of course loved the money. He would complain about never getting to see his friends because he had to work all the time. What did he think life was a big party? If we are not teaching students that they need to work hard in order to achieve in life, what are we teaching them? This website showed me that there are ways to prepare our students for the future but it is up to us as educators to make that happen.

http://www.21stcenturyskills.org/index.php

How Can I Use This?

Taking a look at how easy blogging is I would love to start using it in the classroom. I thought that this would be a great opportunity for me and my colleagues to create a blog to exchange lesson plans and ideas on certain issues. This would be a great way to discuss a lesson with someone in a different state that may have some new interesting ideas. We plan as a team in my school but it is always good to get new ideas!
Since I teach third grade many of them are limited at home on what they can and cannot use. So having them complete homework or assignments online through a blog may not work very well. If I taught high school or maybe even middle and think this would be a great opportunity for students to discuss issues and comment on each other’s work. For my classroom with the limited internet access that my students use I would have to use the blogs in my classroom. My class has to complete a research project on a subject that the whole class will vote on. Last year my students researched Egypt. I would use the blog as a place for students to share what information they found while researching. For my classroom blog I would have the students submit post based on the research that they found. I would have students pick a certain topic to research on Egypt so that everyone is participating. One student would be the expert on the food, one person the expert on the education ect. This would allow them to complete a group assignment but still independently doing their own work.
I never really thought about blogging before but it is a great way for educators to get students actively participating. If you have any ideas on how I could incorporate blogging more into my classroom please feel free to share your ideas. I am always looking for new ideas!

The Changes

When we look back at how the school system were ran when we were in school, we can see a vast amount of changes. We can see today how technology is playing a part in the way the lessons are presented, how education is so focused on testing rather than understanding, as well as government funding others rather than education (which is rather important). I always say, how can teacher's who teach the children of our future be paid average and yet put in a vast amount of time and deal with so many issues? How is it that some schools have a vast amount of technology while others have no technology at all? If we want our students to succeed in this world why are we not giving them each an equal opportunity? Why are we not giving each child an opporunity to strive to be the best they can be? By schools not having the technology we are hindering great educational moments. The school I am currently teaching in is still using over head projectors....you know the ones whose bulbs burn out more than you use them. We do have Elmo's and projectors; however, there are only 2 per grade so between 7 of us we rarely get to use them. We do have computers, but if you want to research something or show a movie you better start the computer up about a half an hour early. They are soooooo slow that it is not even worth using. A school that I used to be at had Smart Boards in each classroom and the latest technology. Can you imagine the learning that takes place in that school? Students are excited and interactive. They want to participate and are always paying attention. Technology is a great way to enhance learning in the classroom! If I had a Smart Board when I was in school I would have raised my hand more rather than trying not to be called on. All I am saying is technology is a great addition to education. Let me know what you think about this issue!

Introduction

I started this blog to discuss issues about Old school ways of teaching vs New school teachings as well as what education was like before technology and now. Times have changed when I was in school which wasn't that long ago. It is amazing how just the basics of teaching's has changed. This blog will allow educators to comment on this issue and give their thoughts and ideas about the school system that we are teaching in today.