As an educator, I was thrilled to find an organization that focuses on infusing 21st century skills into education. Partnership for 21st Century Skills supports teachers so we can implement new technology practices that engage more students in learning. If we expect children to succeed in life and have bright futures, we must create problem solvers, critical thinkers, creative individuals… who can enter the workforce and be leaders in society.
The website of the Partnership for 21st Century Skills at http://www.21stcenturyskills.org/ is a useful site for familiarizing yourself with the basics of 21st Century Skills. I was extremely impressed with “Route 21”: an online interactive tool that demonstrates how 21st century skills can be supported through standards, professional development, assessments and curriculum and instruction. The “snapshot” portion provides resources and shows how the various 21 century skills can be used to support an area of study within the curriculum.
My future goal will be to use this organization, along with other resources, to instill 21st century skills within my students. As I gradually work towards fulfilling this goal, how do I assess my 5th grade students for understanding? Will I create a rubric for subject areas and include various 21st century skills?
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Hi Suzie,
ReplyDeleteThe question is how do you assess your students now? I am sure that for any given assignment you have, you have some time of scoring guide. So the question is how do you incorporate the 21st Century skills in to your plans? I think a great way to do that is to establish a type of design problem to be given at the end of a lesson. Give the students a task, they need to use their problem solving skills to answer the problem, if you have them work in groups of 2 or 3, they then start using their communication skills. At the end of the alloted time period, 1 day, 3 days, 1 week, have a Presentation Day where the groups present their findings to the rest of the class. Did they create a powerpoint to do it? Or has the solution been turned into an imovie. This type task has no limitations. Have fun with it. If you need some ideas, let me know.
Erika
Erika,
ReplyDeleteThanks for all the great ideas! After taking a day to think about my blog, I realized that I am probably already assessing for understanding. When I create assessments, I provide a rubric and use Bloom's Taxonomy to develop questions that encourage students to use their critical thinking skills. We, as teachers, are already incorporating 21st century skills within our lessons without even realizing it. My question should be- Am I prepared and fully understand each skill in order to teach my students? What further training might I need to be successful at doing my job? Will the MS degree I am earning at Walden University provide me with the resources needed?
It is impressive that there is an organization focusing on help educators, the workplace and the government with 21st century skills. I too would recommend this site on 21st century skills, to other educators. If for not other reason, the Partnership for 21st Century Skills offers hope and encouragement that support is coming our way as educators.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Erika, but I think we might be making this more difficult than it is. Suzie, I'm sure you already provide many opportunities for teamwork, communication, and critical thinking in your classroom, as most teachers do. This is just the first time we've heard these all important skills called "21st Century" skills. What I like about this discussion is that we're all thinking about these skills much more and realizing how vital it is that we provide opportunities for our students to develop the skills. I think you're right to ask yourself how prepared you are to teach the skills, and I think we should all follow your lead!
ReplyDeleteErin,
ReplyDeleteThank you! I couldn't agree with you more. I somewhat feel like many of my students do when the state assessment asks them to use a "straight edge", after being told all their life to use a "ruler".:)
Suzie, I think it would be a great idea to create a rubic to help you assess your technology based assignments. By creating a rubric, students will know what is expected of them and they can rely on their group instead to complete the assignment, instead of asking you. I thought Erika's idea of having presentation days would be a neat idea. By doing this it would challenge students to do their best and it would also give you a chance to see how the students worked together to complete the assignment. Good luck and and fun.
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