Being the optimist that I am, I was hoping this site was going to offer tools for me to walk away with and apply into my classroom tomorrow. Not quite the case. Nothing really jumped out at me as new or wowing. It confirmed that yes our schools have work to do, and quite a bit at that. Unfortunately the solutions are not as easy to come by. I received my B.S. in 2002, I can recall having to take one class that required us to create a website, laminate and bind a book, and use a dye cut machine. Two of my classrooms had smartboards in the room, however neither teacher ever turned it on. My point in sharing this is that teachers are not being expected to use technology actively through out their college training. Thus, how are they going to be prepared to come into a classroom and begin using it then...and if teachers are not using it, can we really expect our students to be using it. I am a fairly young teacher, excited to use technology and get my kids using it. Many of my colleagues are timid to try the technology and often use the excuse that it doesn't work every time and they don't have time to waste "fixing" it in class. The part that is hard to explain to them is that the "fixing" it part can usually be figured out by one of the students.
My husband who is in the computer field was laughing at me as I was reading through the Partnership for 21st Century Skills website. He talked about how much easier his job would be if schools educated the students and adults entering the career field using up to date technology. The significant gap between our schools and the expectations of the job market in using technology is not benefiting anyone. It makes sense that the two join forces. My hope for myself as a teacher, for my daughter who will begin her public school experience next year, and for all teachers and students out there is that technology no longer resides as an option for teachers to use with their students, but rather it becomes an expectation.
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Wow...very insightful. I thought it was interesting how your husband reacted to this website. It is a first-hand example of how someone in the field of technology believes what steps need to be taken in order to fully improve our working skills. I completely agree that if schools or education systems could set up a dual partnership with the work force, students could be able to start establishing connetions in which they observe the concrete purpose of learning these 21st century skills. In the long run, learning these skills would become yet another expected step for students in the ultimate pathway to achieving employee status in some place of work. As of right now, we know that post-high school education is very critical to obtaining a professional career. These 21st century skills, if enforced consistenly throughout our educational systems, could be yet another requirement for many students' aspirations of acquiring professional positions in their lives.
ReplyDeleteI often wonder at what expense it is to our students when we add another expectation/requirement on to their learning. Are our students really coming out that much smarter and improved or are they trading off one strategy to learn something new?
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