I Don't Get It.

I was just visiting the website for the Partnership for 21st Century Skills (P21), and I came across the article from Education Week titled "Backers of 21st Century Skills Take Flak". This article is a report of an ongoing debate and p­­­anal discussion between proponents of 21st century skills and opponents to this movement. One side says that we must focus on teaching our children skills such as critical-thinking, analytical skills, technology skills, creativity, collaboration, and communication, while the other side says we must focus on content.

After reading the article, I was left unsure of exactly what the debate was all about. Did the opposing sides really listen to each other at all? And if they did listen, did they stop to think about what the other side was saying? Diane Ratvich summed up my thoughts nicely when she said that this argument is one that has been going on for quite some time. “There is nothing new in the proposals of the 21st-century-skills movement," she said. “The same ideas were iterated and reiterated by pedagogues across the 20th century."

The thing that surprised me about this article was that both sides were really arguing for inclusion of both ideals. When Ken Kay discussed the vision of P21, he said, “There’s no question from the beginning that our work has been built on the premise that skills and content support each other, and the notion that you have to choose between them is a false dichotomy.”

Daniel T. Willingham, a professor of psychology at the University of Virginia, in Charlottesville also described the interrelatedness of skills and content. "(He) argued not only that the teaching of skills is inseparable from that of core content, but also that it is the content itself that allows individuals to recognize problems and to determine which critical-thinking skills to apply to solve them. "

Yes, I understand that there is discrepancy between their viewpoints on the details, but it really seems to me that they all have the same goal, and that is a goal I can share. We all want our students to obtain the necessary knowledge and the necessary skills to succeed in life. I have heard over and over in my teaching career just how important it is for students to possess all of the skills advocated by P21, but we have just recently given these skills a name. Despite the newness of this name, these skills were, are, and will be critical for our students. I also know that students must understand the content. I am just a firm believer that the best way to teach both is by merging them in our lessons for our students so that they are inextricable and no longer in isolation. They will not be in isolation in "real life," and once again, preparing our students for life is our ultimate goal.

Introducing Blogging to my School (Oh My!!!)

I have to admit something. I am a little intimidated by the idea of using blogging in my lab. I can think of ways that I might do it, but they really make me uneasy. One way I could use them despite my misgivings would be as a way for my children to share book recommendations with their peers. This would not only encourage their use of this new communication tool, but they would be motivated to read and publish their writing to an authentic audience. I think I will soon be brave enough to try this, but I need to play with this technology a whole lot more before I am ready to jump in with elementary students.

One way I can easily imagine using blogs is as a means to keep my parents informed of what we are working on in my class. As I teach all grades in my school (K-5), connecting with my parents can be a real challenge. I have had parents email me to ask about lesson we have worked on, and I have even had parents ask me in person. They love the idea of their children becoming technologically proficient, and I think sharing details of the process would be wonderful. Honestly, I much more likeley to start with this implementation first.

Does anyone else have novice-friendly ideas of how to implement this technology in a manageable way?

What an idea!

I had never thought about doing something differently versus doing something different before this week, but this is a very powerful idea presented by Dr. David Thornburg of the Thornburg Center. He described teacher's use of technology in the classroom, and he says that very often technology is used to do something differently, meaning that we are doing the same thing in a new way. An example of this would be wordprocessing software. Using this software allows us to more easily create a typed document, but essentially we are still just typing. By contrast, creating a blog would allow us to do something different. It would allow us to access an audience we would otherwise not be able to reach. This is doing something completely different.

As I thought about that this week, I found that I most often use technology to do something differently. I want to offer my students the opportunity to get all they possibly can from technology, but I have been limiting them to creating PowerPoints and Word Documents. I am really a bit afraid of stepping out and doing something completely new. I would like to introduce blogs and wikis. I am just not sure of the logistics of it all, and I would love it if someone experienced in this could offer any suggestions.