Profiling the Students of Today

I developed a podcast that recorded the responses of my students' digital abilities and learning styles. Some of the questions the students answered included:

How much time do you spend watching TV each day?
How much time do you spend playing video games?
Do you have a computer at home? If yes, what do you use it for?
Do you like the Smartboard? Why or why not?
Do you have a cell phone?

I included a demographic profile of my classroom population and compiled some of the student responses.

Here is a link where you can check it out!

http://podcastmachine.com/podcasts/3516/episodes/16124

Evaluating 21st Century Skills

The Partnership for 21st Century Skills website is a group of advocates for making sure students have access to the necessary skills to succeed in our society. As part of their mission they note, “Every child in America needs 21st century knowledge and skills to succeed as effective citizens, workers and leaders in the 21st century” (2004). This is a wonderful site that gives you the information needed to effectively integrate the skills into the classroom. After viewing the site, I feel that I am more prepared to teach my students necessary information in order for them to be successful as they become active members of society. As an elementary teacher, I believe that it is vital for students to begin looking at and understanding the framework The Partnership for 21st Century Skills presents. This framework includes: Core Subjects and 21st Century Themes, Learning and Innovative Skills, Information, Media, and Technology Skills, and Life and Career Skills. Though this may seem overwhelming for elementary students to deal with, it is something that should be introduced at a young age.

Something that surprised me on the site was their link to the Ohio standards and assessments. This information that the site gives you is improvements that teachers will soon see in their core standards. The 21st century skills that are vital for students to master are going to be worked into the new standards in the core subject areas. Another surprise was the number of resources available to aide in teaching the different parts of the 21st Century Framework. An easy to use resource that also incorporates information regarding Ohio is Route 21. The Partnership for 21st Century Skills says, “The goal of Route 21 is to provide an online interactive tool that demonstrates how 21st century skills can be supported through standards, professional development, assessments and curriculum and instruction” (2004). In order for students to be successful in today’s society, teachers need to be aware and educated on these essential skills.

After reviewing the site, I feel that there will be positive implications for my students and for myself as an educator. Now that I am aware of the key 21st century skills and how to incorporate them into the classroom, I can begin to better prepare my students for today’s technology dependent society. Though we are currently practicing some of the skills, I can introduce new activities that will better connect the content to today’s societal demands. Two areas that I would like to work on with my students are communication skills and social responsibility. It is important for them to realize the impact of having correct and effective skills in order for them to achieve their goals.

Resources:
The Partnership for 21st Century Skills. 2004. http://www.21stcenturyskills.org/

Route 21. The Partnership for 21st Century Skills. 2007. http://www.21stcenturyskills.org/route21/index.php

Daily Check

Something that I do not have, but hope to have in the near future is a classroom blog. One use students would get out of this blog would be to make daily posts about what they learned each day about a specific content area. The students would visit this area on the blog at the end of each day. The teacher would make a revolving list of students who will post to the blog after every subject. They will post two to three sentences that capture what the student learned in that subject on that day. Revisiting this blog at the end of the day accomplishes two objectives: it reinforces the daily lessons with the students (I would tell them this is what you tell your parents when they ask “What did you do at school today?”) and it gives me a chance to make sure students grasped the content covered. If a student would be off the mark on the goal of the lesson, I could ask the class to add to the particular statement to make sure the other students were on target. This allows me to do another small assessment before the end of each day. The blog also helps students with their reading and writing skills. Will Richardson, author of Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms, notes, “Blogging can teach critical reading and writing skills, and it can lead to greater information management skills” (p. 36, 2009). With the daily check assignment, students would be able to practice writing complete sentences and using correct punctuation.

Allowing students to start off with this assignment will get them use to blogging. Will Richardson says, “Having small groups of students actually start creating posts to the same Weblog is a great way to introduce them to blogging and to help them understand the process” (p. 46, 2009). The students will be able to read other classmates responses and could comment or ask them a question as well.

The class blog is a good tool because it acts as a daily log that does not waste resources. It is also accessible from anywhere by anyone so parents, administrators, and the students could go and see what is happening in my classroom.

Reference:

Richardson, W. (2009). Blogs, wikis, podcasts, and other powerful web tools for classrooms (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.

Welcome

Welcome to my Blogspot Blog! With the help of my Walden University Course: Understanding the Impact of Technology on Education, Work, and Society, I hope to become more familiar with the blogging world. Throughout the course I will be updating my blog by adding new features and posts. Hopefully by the end, I will be current with the latest blogging jargon.