The Partnership for 21st Century Skills
The Partnership for 21st Century Skills is a Web site dedicated to infusing 21st century skills into education. I spent several hours perusing the site and reading many articles (http://www.21stcenturyskills.org/). It offers information on the topic of technology and its importance to education. One of the things I discovered that surprised me is that there are only ten states that have initiated discussions and programs to address the issue of specific technology skills. My state is not one of them. This surprises me because we have a great education system that seems to be in the forefront of new initiatives. Perhaps we are in a “wait and see” mode.
My initial reaction to the Web site is that it seemed to be one-sided, a “cheer-leader” for 21st Century Skills and a shopping mart for education resources. As I delved deeper, I was happy to find opposing viewpoints. Bill Tucker, the author of “Beyond the Bubble: Technology and the Future of Student Assessment” comments that these 21st century skills will be invaluable if they result in more equitable and effective schools. I worry that the access or non-access to technology will create an even wider education gap between those students with home access to computers and those without. I especially agree with his comment about American education, “…a tendency to run after every shiny new idea often leads to faddishness that slights the most disadvantaged students” (Tucker, 2009). In the quest to do what’s best for our students, it’s easy to jump on the nearest and newest bandwagon. I’ve been through a myriad of “this will work; use this!” vocabulary programs, reading programs, thematic units, grammar teaching, no grammar teaching, etc. and it’s hard not to think that this focus on 21st century skills is just another wagon. The article, “What to learn: ‘core knowledge’ or 21st –century skills, debates whether one or the other is the best way to go. E.D. Hirsch is quoted as saying that without core knowledge, critical thinking can’t occur. He advocates leveling the playing field for all students by teaching extensive background knowledge (Toppo, 2009). I believe that a more centric approach is important; to teach content in a technological environment. Claus von Zastrow proposes this in his blog that, as educators, we shouldn’t have to choose between content and skills (Zastrow, 2009).
The implication of this debate is not earth shattering at this time. I will continue to teach the English curriculum content. I will however, acknowledge and implement critical thinking skills and the collaborative process in my lesson planning. This knowledge of the possible (and probable) future expectations my students will most likely meet requires innovation on my part as an educator and also as a leader of other teachers in my department. It reminds me that teachers need to be learners too.
References
Partnership for 21st Century Skills. Retrieved March 25, 2009, from http://www.21stcenturyskills.org/
Toppo, Greg. (2009, March 5).What to learn: ‘core knowledge’ or ‘21st-century skills’? USA Today. Retrieved March 25, 2009, from http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/2009-03-04-core-knowledge_N.htm
Tucker, Bill. (2009, February 7). Beyond the bubble: technology and the future of student assessment. Education Sector Reports. Retrieved March 25, 2009, from http://www.educationsector.org/research/research_show.htm?doc_id=826893
Zastrow, Claus von. (2009, March 2). Do we have to choose? Blog. Retrieved on March 25, 2009, from http://www.publicschoolinsights.org/node/2343
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Hello Donna,
ReplyDeleteI too read the comments on the 21st Century site about students without access at home getting less benefits from such innovation. The reality is, this won't stop the world from evolving more towards the latest technology. At least, the less priviledged child could gain knowledge of such innovations in school.
I thoroughly enjoyed reading your insights on this topic. Might I add, no district should jump unto any bandwagon without first researching the in's and out's of an adopted curriculum. This question arose as I neared the end of your posting: Does 21st Century not promote integrating mastery of core subjects with technology while promoting critical thinking skills?
Hi Donna!
ReplyDeleteYou bring up excellent points regarding 21st century skills. While I agree the bandwagon argument, I worry that if we, as educators, NEVER jump on the bandwagon, we'll miss some really important stuff. Let's remember that with great risks comes great learning.
You are so right. If we expect our students to gain a love of learning, we better have it ourselves... and it must be unending.
Latoya: The Partnership for 21st Century Skills, along with other resources from this week's readings promote that core knowledge, is indeed, still at the core of learning.
Great post, thanks!
Hi Donna!
ReplyDeleteYou make excellent points and references to the need to lessen the gap between students learning and achievement in using these skills discussed in the Partnership for 21st Century Skills. As educators, we need to focus on teaching the core knowledge, such as teaching English, but find ways to connect the content to technology related lessons. I found this interesting note on-line, when delving through the 21st Century Partnership Skills web site, and came across the following link, http://www.publicschoolinsights.org/node/2343, and took notice with this statement, "Take, for example, the issue of transferable skills. Critics of twenty-first century skills argue, quite reasonably, that such skills are not "all-purpose muscles" that are effective in any content domain. The critical thinking skills I nurtured in humanities classes will not help me figure out why my car stalls when I step on the brakes, because I don't know the first thing about cars. Critical thinking skills depend on content knowledge" by Claus Zastrow, posted March 2, 2009. Basically, like you said, we do not need to toss out our focus on content areas.
First, to better integrate 21st century skills, teachers need to have access to the resources and support from their schools and districts, in order to fully integrate technology into the lessons. Many of my colleagues have expressed a concern for limited resources within their schools.
Great post! You make some great points!
Donna,
ReplyDeleteI often look at our great country, even if the news says we are down in the dumps and think what a great place to live. Baby boomers went through many of what we,as educators, called failed educational programs. If innovation could be taught everyone would be doing it. I agree that our results would be similar if we bought these new programs or not. One program that I think has worked well is that if kids try and read a lot they will be good readers. The text can even be magazines. I posted in my blog that content is not king. This country was built on ideas that didn't even exist when they were in school. This is even more evident today. I didn't take a computer class in high school, but now I tech a computer class. How could that be? I wasn't taught a cool computer curriculum. I believe the answers lies in good teachers. A good teacher can help organize expose students to critical thinking skills, which I believe is the hidden message in the 21st century skills partnership website. I was glad to see you found the devils advocate on the site I had to go back and find bill tuckers information for myself. As an English teacher you have seen your share of new programs and I bet you never had a chance to get good at any of them; all while your results stayed about the same. Every year when we set our school learning goals they say about the same over the past ten years. We need to get better at writing and reading graphs. We have bought many programs and kids still have a hard time with both of these.