Wednesday, January 28, 2009

21st Century Learning


The Partnership for 21st Century Skills website is very inspiring! My first reaction to the website was that it had a lot of information that was very useful to focus on future skills that will be taught in education.
The concept of bringing the business world, educators, policy makers, community and government leaders together sounds like a miracle. It is good to know that there is something in the works to help education identify the exact expectations needed to be successful in technology, business, education, and society.

I found the list of members and partners to be a refined group that can and will have a great influence on things to come. It was startling that there were only 10 states listed in the initiative section. Hopefully more states will plan to become involved and help achieve the educational goals listed on the website.
As I looked at the states listed, I questioned why my state was not among the 10 and why we continue to create curriculum standards instead of implementing the national skills to build strong K-12 programs in the U.S.?

Looking at this site, I realized there are a few things that I find difficult to accept, like the concept of most students using self-direction and analyzing situations for understanding and decision making for unforeseen events and incidents. Judgments like these come from experience through life-long encounters and experience or am I looking at this from the wrong perspective?

I do think teaching social and personal skills are necessary for success. Sometimes the use of technology can make certain tasks very impersonal, items such as e-mail, faxes, blogs, chat rooms and certain shared documents can indicate the wrong tone from the message sent to the receiver of the message.
As a teacher, I need to make sure that I am exposing my students to adequate program studies, assignments and assessments to prepare them for 21st Century standards they will need to comprehend with new technologies being used.

Wednesday, January 14, 2009

Blogging in the Classroom Idea

As a Healthcare Science teacher of grades 9-12, I know that there are endless possibilities that can be explored in using technology in the classroom. I am always searching for new ideas to use in the classroom that help keep my students engaged.

A web blog could be used in many ways in my classroom.

Just a few ideas as to how it could be used:

  • Post a summary about assigned reading
  • Collaborate on group projects
  • Gather information and ideas from different sources
  • Ask questions that are related to subject content that need more explanation
  • Communication assignments

Presently, I have students read a current-event article of their choice each week that is health related, then document their source, and write a summary. This currently counts with their weekly notebook grade. I think I would like to try and go paperless by having the students write and post their summaries on a blog site. This would enhance the lesson by allowing the summaries to be shared and then students could read and post comments about their opinions or thoughts about the article/summary. Commenting on their classmates’ postings would allow students to have meaningful discussions and gain the experience of blogging.

Let me know what you think!!!!

Saturday, January 10, 2009

Course Requirement

I have created this blog as a requirement to share comments, and information with my fellow colleagues. The impact that technology can have in the classroom today is amazing and I can only hope this course will help me to create lessons that will help my students understand what the future is going to offer them as technology is used in the classroom.

Please check back for any new information or comments and be sure to sign up for the RSS feed this blog (if I have done this correctly). Also, feel free to leave me any helpful comments, as well as any useful links that you think might be helpful for this course.

Wednesday, January 7, 2009

Comment Post ?

I have tried to respond and post comments on several sites with no luck. I can't tell if it is the computer or me. Is anyone else having this problem? Thanks!!!!

Tuesday, January 6, 2009

Deborah Thomas

This is my "jumping off point"... I love technology!!!

I’m new to the integration process for using certain technologies in my classroom. I know that this is a must for today's teachers. Is there anyone who has information for lesson plans that use technology across the curriculum?