What is Partnership for 21st-Century Skill ?

This week I got the opportunity to explore The Partnership for 21st-Century Skills website, and must say I was impressed with the plethora of information this site provides for educators, parents, and policymakers alike.  The Partnership for 21st-Century Skills, also known as P21 “is a national organization that advocates for 21st century readiness for every student.”  This organization, basically came about to help prepare students for future, by stressing the 3Rs and 4Cs.  It is imperative that our students learn the 3Rs, however, to survive in the future, they must be equip with the 4Cs; critical thinking and problem solving, communication, collaboration, and creativity and innovation.

I was rather impressed with the Framework for the 21st-Century learning; this framework outlines the six essential skills our students will need to be successful in the future.  These skills are as follows: 
•Core subjects (English, mathematics, science, etc.)
•21st-century content (finance, health, global awareness, etc.)
•Learning and thinking skills (communication, collaboration, etc.)
•Information and communication technology 
•Life skills (ethics, leadership, self direction, etc)
•21st-century assessment
P21 actually gave me a deeper understanding of the 21st-Century skills, and also ideas on how these skills can be implemented in the classroom.


As of this writing there are currently fifteen P21 partner states, which can be found at Route 21 (www.p21.org/route21) .  I was not impressed with this information, why are more states not involved in this movement? The benefits associated with being members of P21 are tremendous, such as professional development, resources, assistance needed to implement the 21st-century skills, and well rounded students not only equip in the 3Rs but also the 4Cs. 


References
Partnership for 21st Century Skills http://www.p21.org/home
Welcome to Route 21 http://route21.p21.org/

Blogging, What's the Use?

This week’s reading assignments from our text, "Blogs, Wikis, Podcast, and Other Powerful Web Tools for classrooms," was rather enlightening, the reading allowed me to view blogs in a different light. Since be I am a very private person the thought of having a blog whether personal or professional was not something I ever considered, however, after reading all the positive impact blogs have on students learning and the professional collaboration it allows for educators, I am ready to blog. Yes, Ms. Satchell is ready to start her own classroom blog.

 Considering that I would like to implement this into my classroom, I would use it as a forum for myself and my students to post/discuss assignment, introduce new concepts, show videos of concepts that we have covered and will be covering in the future. With the use of my blog, the students who are scared to ask questions in class will be able to express themselves, more freely. The students will also be able to ask for assistance and share their knowledge with their classmates.

 As a high school mathematics teacher,teaching Algebra I and II, I feel that blogs will be a good tool for my instructional context, since it allows students to be more honest about what they understand in class. My blog, would also allow for my students to reflect on the lesson, and on my teaching, students will be able to use it inform me of any problems they are having. I would also link it to the Khan Academy, so that students would have access to instructional videos. In all, I think that having a blog as a part of my classroom instruction would be beneficial to both my students and I.

 Reference Richardson, W. (2010). Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms. 3rd ed. Thousand Oaks: Corwin.

New Year, New Knowledge

Let me start by saying "HAPPY NEW YEAR," as you may have already figured out, I am new to blogging.  I am starting this blog as a requirement for my one of my masters course, hopefully I will continue this venture, even upon the completion of my class.  I will be using this forum to discuss my ups and downs of integrating technology into the math classroom....see you soon!