As an assignment this week in my integrating technology class we were asked to explore the website of the Partnership for 21st Century Skills. Over the past two days I have been spending time investigating the sight in order to learn more about this innovative and about what the Partnership for 21st Century Skills really stands for. The first thing that I discovered was their mission statement. I discovered that their mission “is to serve as a catalyst to position 21st century readiness at the center of US K-12 education by building collaborative partnerships among education, business, and community and government leaders” (The Partnership for 21st Century Skills, 2010). What this essentially means to me, as a teacher, is that they are striving to help states get the jumpstart that they need to incorporate ideas from business, community and government with a strong emphasis on technology.
Upon learning this I definitely wanted to know more.
My initial reaction to the website is that it is very useful to all those that are in the educational field. As I looked at the many resources that are available it is also beneficial to all those that work with technology and young children. This website can also be a useful tool for parents that want to understand the integration of technology in the classroom. As I looked harder at the site I became increasingly impressed with the concept of making this a statewide initiative with a strong focus on “critical thinking and problem solving, communication, collaboration, and creativity and innovation” (The Partnership for 21st Century Skills, 2010). When answering the question, “who are your members?” The partnership stated, “We succeed when we work together to transform education. P21 urges business, education and government leaders to join this effort, think strategically about fusing the three Rs and four Cs, and work long-term to create an education system that best prepares today’s students for tomorrow’s workplace” (The Partnership for 21st Century Skills, 2010). There is a strong significance placed on the idea that everyone must be involved in the technological education of our students. I have only been teaching for three years but even I know that without the support and help from those around you it is almost impossible to get an entire class of students to succeed. You need the help from the government, the community, the parents, and your fellow teachers. This site places the importance on all these figures in the child’s life.
As I got more and more excited about the idea of state participation in the education I started to look and see what states have signed on to this membership. I was shocked to learn that out of our 50 states only 15 are members of The Partnership. I discovered that in order “to become a P21 Leadership State, a state demonstrates commitment from the governor and chief state school officer, and submits an application to P21 that describes the state’s plan to fuse the three Rs and four Cs within standards, assessments and professional development programs” (The Partnership for 21st Century Skills, 2010). Upon further inspection I also noticed that my state, Pennsylvania, was part of those 15 states that are members. I feel that more people need to be made away of what The Partnership is trying to do and state officials need to be told that we want to become members.
All the ideas and concepts that I found on this site would be beneficial to my students. As I have mentioned before, I have one student that is not able to be in a regular math class because of his disrespectful behavior and inability to sit quietly. Through the ideas that are present on this site I can work with my student to integrate him into the classroom using technology. This way I am able to have him work with the other students but not be the distraction that he currently is. Through the use of chats and web blogs I am able to ensure that my student is collaborating with the other students in his grade level and is discussing the information that I am teaching him. Through this I am also able to work collaboratively with a fellow teacher; therefore, bettering our students’ learning.
http://www.p21.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=505&Itemid=189
It is surprising that you live in Pennsylvania, and Hazel in North Carolina, which are both states involved in this project What good is state involvement if the educators of that state are unaware of the resource? If educators in the states involved are not aware, then the project is not effectively improving the skills of high school graduates, the investors potential employees. Possibly the investors did not expect see the benefits of their investment within the 8 years since the project’s conception. This may explain why so few states are involved even though it is offered without cost. Even more interesting is Disney being listed as a corporate investor, yet the State of Florida is not currently involved.
ReplyDeleteMy questions and comments correlate with Erika's comment to your post, "there were no classroom teachers on the member list" too. Isn't it also interesting that Ms. Pepe, an integrating technology in the classroom instructor and advocate, is directing students to the P21 site, yet she lives in Florida. hmmm...
I must say, I am shocked to see that only 15 out of our 50 states are a part of this community. From viewing the site myself, I felt it was great for our teaching world and very useful to our economy. I grew up in Pennsylvania and went to an NCATE accredited school, Kutztown University of Pennsylvania, so I knew that vast majority of PA schools were involved in higher level achievements. But only 15? Now why do you think the other 35 states are not part of the 21st Partnership? Do you think they are working towards it?
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