21st century skills as a compliment to curriculum

Bob Regan’s article reinforced how important technology use is in our classrooms today, not as a supplement but as a compliment to the curriculum. It has become clear that technology is a growing part of our world and will continue that trend for years to come. As a teacher in these technological times, it is my responsibility to teach 21^st century skills in a meaningful way.

Last year my students were exposed to google earth for the first time. At first, this tool was introduced to them separate from our curriculum. A week later we revisited google earth and barely any of the children remembered how to use it. In order to teach 21^st century skills, teachers must integrate them into the curriculum. In order to teach a new skill specifically using technology, we as educators must provide children with opportunities to explore and problem solve as they engage in meaningful curriculum. With these opportunities technology will not just be a new tool to learn, but a part of the learning process.

Time to catch up!

After reading Regan's article, I realized that technology has become and is such a vital part of our student's lives. Living in this digital world means understanding the technology that comes with it. In my previous post, I had mentioned that I was not sure how I felt with technology and, at times, feel that our students are exposed too much to technology. However, Regan refers to Dewey's philosophy of education - "learning by doing" - and stopping to reflect on the world today, technology is something our students are going to have to understand in order to "make it" later in life. Dewey was an avid believer in education through experience, as am I, but the experience that I had received growing up has significantly changed. The experience our students are now going to have to go through requires the use of technology. While I am still not a 100% supporter of technology, I feel that with the pace the world is changing at, technology is something that will always be around and will only become a larger part of our lives. I guess it is time for me to put down my guard against technology and really see and take advantage of what technology can offer.

21st Century Technology

Bob Regan’s “Why We Need to Teach 21^st Century Skills – And How to Do It” reminds me of conversations that I had with many liberal arts admissions officers when I was deciding where I would go for my undergrad. “A little arts education will teach you how to think,” they tell me. “You might not learn how to do a specific task by memory, but you will have the critical thinking skills to figure it out.”

Whereas, when I was growing up, technology meant teaching kids how to type without performing the “hunting-and-peeking” technique, being able to properly shutting down the computer, and troubleshooting by using CRT-ALT-DEL, Regan’s article presents itself as the 3.0 or 4.0 – 21^st century – way of using technology in education. The question of whether a teaching should integrate technology into his/her classroom is out the window; in the 21^st century – you simply HAVE to.

For me, the skills that Partnership for 21^st Century Skills points out parodies what Scott Moran said to us last week about what it means to be a progressive in the world of education in general. Problem solving, critical thinking skills, global awareness, etc. should not be “new” skills created by the boom of technology, but rather skills that have always been important to cultivate - technology is just a rising important means to include.

21st Century Skills

Kids always have a general curiosity about the world. Children ask questions, make discoveries, and are encouraged to become lifelong learners. What’s different between years ago and today?

Bob Regan explains that Partnership for 21^st Century Skills offers the skills needed that we as teachers need to teach. These include thinking and problem-solving, interpersonal, collaborative and self-direction skills, global awareness, and others. Again, the question is, what is different about years ago and today?

Many of the skills seem obvious to me in terms of what children should be taught. It’s almost funny that Regan is coining skills like problem-solving skills as new. I guess these skills aren’t new, but in a 21^st century world, they need to be taught in a new way.

Today’s technology needs to be fully integrated into all curricula so that students learn these skills and incorporate them within their learning. Today’s technology gives kids the opportunity to learn more about their questions. Children can research and find answers on the internet. Teachers can incorporate videos or pictures that make the curricula more meaningful, just as Dewey says learning should be. It is our job as teachers to envelop the curriculum with technology and incorporate it into classroom learning. Students need to keep up with the times so that they enter the world with knowledge of skills that will continue to keep them as lifelong learners.

21st century skills

Reading the article about 21st century skills made me really think about how much education has changed and is changing. Now there is so much that goes into education. Incorporating technology and using multi-sensory items in the classroom never used to be something that educators think about. It requires more thought, effort and planning. At the same time, I believe that it keeps students extremely engaged in their learning - but it definitely requires skills that never used to be taught in classrooms. There are some people who are against using technology too much, however I think that it is extremely beneficial. It is just important for educators to keep in mind that in order to use 21st century technology, we need to be able to teach the skills that go along with it. And while it make take more effort and planning, in the end it will make the classroom a much more engaging and dynamic learning environment.

Teaching 21st century skills.

            When educators, parents and politicians come up with the issue of technology and education, there is two different path to go through: you will find some of them who believe that technology does not need to be a big part of education; and some of them who advocate for a daily integration. As Bob Regan established in this article, “Educators must find ways to incorporate multimedia technologies into everyday activities, and help students explore and master new ways to communicate what they are learning.”

                The first thing that we need to do as educators is recognize which is our relationship with this issue and how we are going to solve it. Secondly, we need to define what technology is. In my opinion people who are against of introducing technology into the classroom believe that technologies are passive tools where children cannot have interactions. But the rest of them, who really advocate for the incorporations of technology, believe that children can still be active learners using technologies.

                For me technology is a tool, where children can interact, explore and develop different kind of learning.  For example mathematic games, language games, etc. It is very important to understand that technology needs look different in an early childhood classroom and a high school classroom. As children are growing, the use of technology must change and it can be use for collaborative learning, critical thinking, problem solving and literacy.

                After reading this article I started to think and look for other information which explain about technology and the early childhood classroom. I found a very interesting article, which speak about the importance of being responsible in integrating technology as an interactive tools. http://teacher.scholastic.com/professional/bruceperry/using_technology.htm

                The 21 century is giving us a chance to advocate and recognize a different way to develop important skills in our student. Technology needs to be a partner in our teaching and we need to understand that learning by doing can be possible with the use of technologies. If we are going to a field trip, we can give to our students cameras and let them take their own pictures.

                Every tool that a teacher uses in her classroom needs to be part of a curriculum that develops critical thinking and problem solving. But the most important think: learning how to be citizen of the world. As the article that I mentioned said before “Technology is not going to go away and we are in the midst of a major sociocultural quantum shift. These technologies are revolutionizing the world our children will live in. So our task is to balance appropriate skill-development with technologies with the core principles and experiences necessary to raise healthy children”

Example of resources for math game (Mathematic for teacher EDUC 540)

(http://illuminations.nctm.org/ActivitySearch.aspx)

Digital Madness!!!

This week I chose to blogg about the article on Bloom's Digital Taxonomy! Wow, let me just begin by saying this shows you how much influence technology has had on our world, and how we evulate each other and realte to each other. I was previously familiar with Bloom's Taxonomy, but had never heard of the digital version until now. I must say that it is reassuring to know that there is a method to the madness. This article shows how the use of technology moves beyond "just games" as some may think it is, and can support a student in any of those areas (evaluation, creating, etc.) through a digitial medium. Our students can still organize and present information, just like they would if they were writing a paper or making a paper board. Except for now, presentations can be made through online measures and planning can be done in digital outlines! I think Bloom's Digital Taxonomy would be a great resource for teachers to use to correlate the use of technology to these higher order skills as well as serve as resource for defending your use of technology to adminstrators. After reading this, I got a better understanding of what parts of the use of technology correleate to what. This makes me better versed in this area and gives me a better understanding of the skills needed to perform any given task. I look forward to trying to make this knoweldge part of my planning.