At first when I visited the website Framework for 21st Century Learning I was at first overwhelmed. There is a lot of information and links to articles and websites that I didn't know where to begin.
As I began to peel away the layers I discovered there was a method to the madness. The three R's are standard fare, but the four C's (Critical Thinking and Problem Solving, Collaboration, Communication, and Creativity and Innovation) are something that I could really get my head wrapped around. What is the purpose of school if not to prepare students for the next step of their lives? I understand the need for national accountability in the way of testing standards, but I have found that they are not preparing students for actual life, just for the ability to take and pass a test. (One that in Virginia is based upon at 50% pass rate, but do not get me started on that one.)
There were a large number of links to various businesses that have interest in technology and the ability to aid students in learning technology. These could prove very useful indeed. I was interested to find that some states are taking initiative in creating 21st Century standards to promote learning using technology based skills. My home state of Virginia is not one of those, but I would hope would one day.
Overall I was more overwhelmed with the site than I was able to pull information from it. I found myself developing a personal Attention Deficit Disorder as I was reading over items - I would click on a link and then hit the back button after a short perusal. Some of the information looked very worthwhile and worth more in-depth study.
I was also overwhelmed by this site. There was a lot of information to process but I found the information interesting. I would have thought too that more states would be on board with the initiatives. It seems like a good place to start if you want to begin the process of implementing these 21st century skills but it seems like there are a lot of steps and politics involved in getting involved with this initiative. What do you think?
ReplyDeleteI, too, was overwhelmed by the site. I also was confused by its vagueness in many areas. The partnership, to me, seems to have big goals but no real concrete road map that will help get it to the final destination.
ReplyDeleteAt any rate, what I did take away from it is something you pointed out: the need for greater emphasis on the "four C's."
For me, as a Kindergarten teacher, I'm not yet sure I can do much in those areas. However, I do see them as very valid and important concentration areas for students in middle school and high school.
As we've been working on this student technology skill building over the course of the last few weeks it gets me really frustrated to realize that, as mentioned in our discussion groups, we are graded as teachers on a test that actually does none of these things. The state tests measure knowledge gained over the course of the class, not skills. Which would be great if I was educating twenty-five kids an hour to be teachers... but I'm not. Is there a way to balance building real world skills while still passing the state tests? It seems to me that you can easily do one (with focus) but you cannot accomplish both simultaneously.
ReplyDeleteThe site is a wealth of information and it was very easy to get overwhelmed. As far as what the state test measures; is there a way to measure how well each student has mastered the 3Cs? The test is just that; as standardized cookie-cutter test that measures skill spit out. It doesn't measure how well a student can collaborate with his peers to solve a real-world problem. I see a problem here. I wonder who will solve it?
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