Partnership for the 21st Century

The Partnership for 21st Century skills has established themselves as an organization with a mission to serve as a catalyst to position 21st century skills at the center of K-12 education. Their web site is calling for the support of educators, businesses, communities and government leaders to transition learning in schools in order to address the gap between the knowledge and skills most of our students are learning and the skills they will need in tomorrow’s work place.
I reviewed the site information about the National Action Agenda which outlines eight principles that policy makers and stakeholders believe will help build this 21st century education system. It was encouraging to see that these principles included the need to provide educators with consistent access to tools and support systems both in their pre-service education and in-service professional development. The methods of learning and tools to achieving knowledge in this century are definitely changing and educators are playing catch up mainly because the systems around us do not provide the support these principles defined.
The Partnership for the 21st Century organization has also wisely acknowledged that success of their mission is greatly dependent on the support of government leaders. Their policy recommendations to the Obama administration, which are also available on the Partnership’s website, will require substantial funding increases for training and resources. I agree there is an urgent need to put an infrastructure in place that enables us to help students improve skills that support the needs of the 21st century work place but with so many costly changes pending under Obama’s new administration, is this investment possible? Too much move for simultaneous changes often results in sacrificing one thing for another. Therefore, will the educational evolution be lost due to other administration priorities such as health care reform? As educators we have a social obligation to make education the number one priority. So, let’s sharpen our own 21st century skills and start making daily changes toward helping our students do the same.

Kelly McCarty

Using a Blog in the Kindergarten Classroom

To incorporate a blog in my kindergarten classroom I would extend a science unit about space. As the students explore the planets I would have "Astronaut Alex" share information and pose questions for the students to explore. This interaction would help to motivate and encourage student learning about space. During a lesson I would assist the class in generating comments and questions by typing them into a blog. In reality I would secretly pretend to be "Astronaut Alex" and respond to the class while generating excitement about the planets. Student learning would be seen through the use of the blogs because their comments and questions would exhibit their understanding. This experience would be a good tool because it would encourage the kindergarten students to connect to the global world.

Food In the Classroom

I am a Kindergarten teacher and I have used food as a way to engage the students during various lessons. This year my school system has decided against the use of any food in the classroom. This means no food for graphing, or any other lesson as well as no celebrations for birthdays. I am really disappointed and wish there was some flexibility.

I know the main reason for this decision is due to the number of food allergies that exist these days.

Any comments?