The Partnership for 21st Century Skills

Today I explored a new website, http://www.p21.org/index.php. The site is sponsored by The Partnership for 21st Century Skills. I can not believe that I was unaware of this project until recently, as the scope of the partnership is rather extensive!

The program was created to encourage the teaching of the skills necessary for students to succeed in the 21st Century. I agree with many of the skills and ideas the program advocates, and I think that we are lagging behind in the process; there needs to be a greater push for these abilities to be taught, and I think this group does a great job of that.

I was surprised to learn of the number of corporations and groups affiliated with the project; businesses from Apple to Microsoft to Verizon to Disney are involved. Additionally, I did not realize that several states have embraced the program and are incorporating the skills into state standards and expectations. My own state, New Jersey, is pushing for 21st Century skills to become a part of the curriculum in all subject areas, and I did not realize that this was encouraged by The Partnership.

Though I don't necessarily agree with everything on the site-for instance, there is a general support throughout of No Child Left Behind, which I find in many ways to be unrealistic-I thought the site was informative and thought-provoking. I would definitely encourage my fellow educators to take a look!

The blog's place in my classroom...

I will admit that I currently have a "blog" for my classes, but it is not used in a way that truly utilizes the technology. The space is mainly used to post homework assignments; occasionally, I will post reminders, school events, or other tidbits on the blog, but it is a one-sided conversation regardless. I do not use the blog for communication with and between students, and that is where its greatest value lies.

I teach 10th and 11th grade English, and I think the blog would be wonderful for in-depth or thought provoking "journal-like" responses tied to the literature read throughout my courses. Oftentimes in the beginning of a unit, we will talk about themes and ideas that will be addressed in the novel, and a class blog would be a wonderful place to get the discussion going.

I also think that blogs could provide a boost for my school's summer reading program. Our district has an out-of-date summer reading assignment that, in my opinion, does not challenge or inspire the students. A committee is currently working on a new summer reading program to be implemented for Summer 2011, and I am beginning to wonder if blogging could be incorporated.

Though it would be difficult for 2011-2012 class blogs to be developed (the students don't know their English teachers for the next school year until the first day of class), I wonder if there could be a way to pull it off. For instance, if a student is leaving my class and going to Ms. Miller's class the following year, I wonder if they could complete the blogging experience with kids from my class, and Ms. Miller could subscribe to RSS feeds for all her kids come September? The kinks would have to be worked out, but I think that discussion via blogs over the summer would be exciting to the kids, and could perhaps be the answer we need to the Summer Reading problem!

Initial Post

Greetings, everyone!

I am a secondary English teacher, looking forward to broadening my technological horizons for the betterment of my classroom instruction.