Evaluating 21st Century Skills

In November, a Massachusetts task force concluded that straight academic content "is no longer enough" to help students compete: It urged state education commissioner Mitchell Chester to add 21st-century skills to curriculum guides and teacher training. This statement was found in an USA Today article I read online on the website of The Partnership for 21st Century Skills. I totally agree with this statement and 21st century skills should be added to all U.S. state curriculum guides and teacher training programs. They are necessary skills for the future.

I also agree with the website's view of a varied approach to teaching, that includes a blending of specific skills, content knowledge, expertise and literacies. The Partnership for 21st Century Skills' website is a very informative website that clearly explains the reasons why certain skills as thinking and problem solving skills, information and communication skills, global awareness, and others are not to be ignored by today's educators, but they are the fundamental skills for the 21st century in which we live.

Things on the website that surprised me: that many large corporations are listed as current board member organizations (Hewlitt Packard, Dell, McGraw-Hill and others), that so many states are submitting applications and making changes to align themselves with the 21st century skills, that the site provides online tools to educators to use that help incorporate the skills into classrooms, and by the list of affiliates that provide professional development training to educators and administrators through the P21 program.

I did not disagree with anything on the site. I just wondered what these big companies are really contributing to the teaching of the 21st century skills? Are they just contributing funds to provide this group that promotes 21st century skills?

I will definitely look into the online tools that this site provides for how to better incorporate 21st century skills into my teaching. I will try my best to provide a classroom environment for my students that promotes and utilizes as many of these 21st century skills as possible and I will try to do so through the use of technology, interactive learning, collaborative learning, and hands-on learning. I need to take the time to tweak my existing lessons so they truly enhance the learning that my students will need for the future.

Blogs in the Classroom

Miss Becky DePuy - Art teacher - grades 1-4 and high school Art 1 - approx. 350-400 students

First of all, I have found other educator's and technology coordinator's blogs to be great resources for new knowledge, teaching strategies, behavior management ideas, and new online technological tools that I can use with my classes. It is great to be able to communicate with other educators who work in the same field as I do. I am the only elementary art teacher in my school district and blogs are a great way for me to communicate and learn from other elementary art teachers around the country. It is great to be able to comment and leave questions for others and have them promptly respond back. I am sure that I will make new friends who are fellow art educators and technology specialists by blogging.

I do have a current website for my art students through the school's website. I keep this site up-to-date with information such as items that people could donate to the art room, photos of student artwork, photos of my students in action, and any art room news. But, having a blog site for my classes would have many advantages over my website. The top one being that other's can reflect and comment on certain items, such as student artwork, photos, art news, and email me with questions and concerns through a link that I would insert onto the blog page.

Also I can post questions to my students concerning things they are learning in my class and projects that they would like to do in the Art room. They could respond digitally. It would work as another form of communication between myself, my students' parents, and my students.

I could also provide links on my blog to websites that my students might want to explore, such as virtual art museum field trips, art learning games, online coloring pages, and any other type of site that is related to my content.

I think that my class blog would enhance learning by making my students more interested in what's going on in the classroom, providing a new communication medium for comments, questions, and concerns, and making them more responsible for what they are accomplishing.

For my high school students, they could have their own blog pages. This could be a place where they can have an e-portfolio, showcasing their best artwork. It is a place where their parents and others can digitally view their progress and comment on their work. It is a place where they can insert links to websites that they've explored for art-related powerpoint presentations and projects. Blogging in the art room would help them learn to use this new form of technology for an educational purpose and provide them with the necessary skills to manage future class blogs in their other classes.

1st Blog...

First, let me introduce myself. My name is Becky DePuy, I'm 28 years old, and I am an Art teacher in a rural school district in North Central Ohio. I teach grades 1-4 and high school Art 1. My interests include outdoors (hiking, fishing, camping, photography), aerobics, country music and line dancing, all forms of Art (especially ceramics and painting), and movies.

I've always loved learning about computers and technology. I try to incorporate as much technology into my Art classes as I can. My students love using computers and technology as well and oftentimes teach me a thing or two about new technology and resources available. I love my students' enthusiasm and interest in new technologies. I truly believe that technology is the new wave of the future and we as teachers, must learn as much as we can and incorporate as much as we can technologically into our classrooms for successful learning to take place. Students these days are different and learn differently than students did 10 years ago. We must recognize this and adapt to this fact. I am very excited to be in this class and learning about all of the new technological resources available to me to use with my classes!