21st Century Skills

This week I spent some time looking around the website for Partnership for 21^st Century Skills. The website is devoted to helping US students develop skills needed to compete in the 21^st century global economy. While the website recognizes the need for teaching the three R’s (reading, writing, and arithmetic), it introduces a need for also teaching the four C’s (critical thinking, collaboration, communication, creativity).  My state of Georgia has not adopted this initiative, but does implement STEM lessons, is adopting the Common Core Curriculum, and is also moving towards a more critical thinking format of testing with the PARC assessment.

I believe this website can be a useful tool for teachers to gain resources and make connections with other community members who are adopting 21^st century practices. On this website I read an article about skills assessment; while our nation is focused on assessment, it is mostly multiple choice and not task oriented.  The lack of applicable use of the 21^st century critical thinking skills shows that U.S. students are learning the material but are not learning how to apply it. 

Regarding 21^st Century Skills, something I disagree with is the comparison of education in the United States to other nations.  The theme seems to be that our nation is falling behind other nations in technological development and education standards. While I do believe that to be true, when we compare the student population to that of our foreign competition I believe we will find a vast difference. In other countries it is a privilege to go to school, and not all children attend school. In the United States we educate all students, and not all students are going to excel at critical thinking, and creative problem solving. Comparing the entire student populations’ test scores to the test scores of an elite student population is certain to produce skewed data.

Regardless of our nation’s education ranking and performance, the future of our students will require 21^st Century skills. It is up to me as a teacher to provide opportunities for students to practice critical thinking, problem solving, collaboration, and communication. I need to expose students to technology and allow them to become confident in using it so that they can take these skills and become innovative with them.

Blogging in the Classroom

How can a secondary math teacher use a blog in her classroom? Our calendar is filled to the brim as we strive to conquer all of the standards before the End of Course Test; high school math teachers do not have time for “fun” projects like playing with blog sites. Well, busy teachers; it is time to embrace the communication age. Students’ lives revolve around their cell phones, social networking sites, and the internet; if we want to connect to students we need to begin speaking their language.

Our 10^th grade Math 2 class uses a formula sheet throughout the school year, I cannot tell you how many times students need a new formula sheet throughout the year because they have lost theirs. Through the use of a blog posting, that problem can be solved and students can have access to their formula sheet at any time. Additionally, if teachers begin posting homework, upcoming test dates, and study guides on the blog, students and parents alike can be kept aware of all assignments. To help build community among students, parents, and teachers questions can be asked and answered on the blog as an additional form of communication.

Another idea to enhance lessons is to utilize the Doodle Buddy App for the I Pad. Our school is fortunate enough to have a class set of I Pads we received through a STEM grant. This app will allow students or the teacher to take notes on the I Pads, just as they would on a white board, and then the pictures can be saved and posted onto a class blog. This way a student who was absent could then have full access to the class notes as easily as they have access to their smartphone.

I am looking forward to learning more ways to use a blog in my busy classroom, and will share more ideas as I find them.

Welcome to my blog!

Hello everyone! I am a high school special education coteacher, currently in math class settings in Georgia. I am adopting new ways to integrate technology into my life and classroom, beginning with this blog. Please feel free to post ideas or suggestions to help me with my endeavors.
In case you are wondering about the name...one of  our school's motto is "whatever it takes to graduate", followed closely by "do the right thing". I am sure you can imagine how these statements must go hand and hand. As a teacher I often find myself muttering these words to myself when I feel like I am pushed to my limits, but in reality my goal is really to do whatever it takes to get the students to graduate. Extra study guides, reminders of missing work,contacting parents, tutoring before school, whatever it takes.