As we all know, school today is not the same as it was even 10 years ago. We are preparing our kids for a future that is vastly different from anything we could have pictured when we were their age! Good ol' readin', writin', and 'rithmetic just won't cut it anymore; our world is much more sophisticated and technologically advanced - much more so than most teachers preparing our kids for it!
As I started browsing the web site, I was pretty excited. I love finding new "stuff" and ideas I can incorporate into my instruction. Unfortunately, my excitement was short-lived. To be honest, I didn't learn anything new or find any resources that I cared to use. I am the ultimate "tech geek" - I get REALLY excited when I find a web site, gadget, or gizmo to use - sadly, I found nothing.
I wasn't surprised by anything I read. What they say is true and the "new" standards they stress are, indeed, critically important for our students. I guess having it in writing makes it a little easier for me to plead my case to my boss, but other than that, no shockers were found.
Of course our students need to be innovators and team players. Of course they need to know how and where to find new information and to be able to analyze its sources. Of course our kids need to work proficiently, even expertly, with the technology available in order to be competitive. And of course, our kids need to "think bigger" these days. Maybe it's just me, but isn't this all common knowledge?
My kids may be in trouble if these are the standards by which they will be judged. After spending 2 weeks discussing, practicing, writing, practicing, peer tutoring, practicing, dissecting, practicing and working with 1-step equations involving whole numbers, I challenged my class to solve this equation: 1/2 + x = 2/3. Do you know one of my students actually said to me, "How can we do something you never taught us before?" My head nearly exploded.
One of the 21st Century Standards reads as follows:
Critical Thinking and Problem Solving
- Exercising sound reasoning in understanding
- Making complex choices and decisions
- Understanding the interconnections among systems
- Identifying and asking significant questions that clarify various points of view and lead to better solutions
- Framing, analyzing and synthesizing information in order to solve problems and answer questions
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I also didn't gain this amazing new information on what I need my students to learn. However, I did like the website for the fact that it is written down. I guess I just like having it all there in front of me. However, I like you, think my head is going to explode when my students are given a task to complete on their own after we have done everything with it and they look at me as if I have given them foreign material. I was surprised though at how many states were not on the site.
ReplyDeleteYou are really on to something Mulanax... I love your name- it is so fun to say... Teachers and educational technology advocates should definitely refocus their aim towards practical and effective lessons and practices that encourage hands-on problem solving for children of all ages today. While computers are a great tool that can engage the brain and increase interactions and imagination at the same time- teachers can also provide real, hands-on problem solving and interaction practice with games, lessons, and morning meeting opportunities. When the opportunities for more computers- even one-to-one ratio of computers to students- arrives, the skill set for the 21st Century student can be enhanced exponentially.
ReplyDeleteLet us not forget that our goal is life-skills and decision making abilities in a Whole New World.
This is killing me Deana,
ReplyDeleteI am re-typing a response because my last one got involuntarily sacrificed to the computer gods. I wanted to say that I agreed with you about this need to step up the critical thinking and analyzing skills. Teachers should be focusing on teaching analysis and combining the readily available knowledge with the higher thinking skills of synthesis that they will continue to need into the workforce. Students need to be required to combine, generate, devise, compose- and computers and technology can enhance these abilities exponentially . These are the areas that we need to emphasize: the processes of problem-solving and synthesis of vast amounts of information- life skills that they need to have in the 21st Century. The last point I wanted to make is that in addition to hopefully of having a one to one ratio of computers to students in the near future, we can have the kids interacting in real time- face to face! Through camaraderie building programs such as Responsive Classroom and hands-on group projects and experiments as well as book clubs and math, geography and spelling competitions, students can work on many of the 21st century skills that will hopefully mirror their online persona/s or entities.
Deanna,
ReplyDeleteI found the complete opposite from the website. 21st century skills provided many great insights to the future of students education. However, I am one that truly has not kept up on the latest in technology. Thus, it could make it a difference in how we perceive the information listed on the website. You mention students be judged by these standards. Do you think a standardized test of these skills could be the next "wave"?
Deana, like you I found the site to be a repeat of what I already knew. NCLB has us focused on meeting high stake testing standards...not necessarily the information and skills that our students need. And I share your pain in having your students return a question (that contains previously learned material) with that blank stare or the dreaded, 'I don't know...you never taught me that'. I suppose at this point...we have nothing to do, but teach the material that we are handed for the test that the students will take, and ultimately decides our ability and competency as a teacher.
ReplyDeleteKelli,
ReplyDeleteGawd, I sure hope not! If we pile any more tests on these kids, they might explode on the spot! LOL
If "they" DO decide to start testing them, I sure hope someone in charge uses his/her head and creates a TRULY standardized test to use! One test - every child in the United States. I still don't understand how we can compare ANYTHING with the way things are set up now! AND, AND, AND... if they want to test them, they BETTER give us the funding for the technology we're supposed to be teaching! (OK, stepping of my soap-box now!)
Deana,
ReplyDeleteI, like you, was also not surprised by the goals, etc. of this site. I was not surprised by the existence, though I had never heard of it. Like you said, I often found myself saying, "Yeah, and?" when readign over it. However, I began to realize, organizations such as this one do not exist for people like you and me. Think about some of the (dare I say it?) "older" teachers you work with. It's probably that one special someone who comes to you at least weekly needing help with something as simple as turning on/off her computer. For me, it was a woman who came to me, nearly daily with a pencil and paper asking how to save something. Anyway, people like that NEED this website. THEY need to see that the "tech-geeks" like us are what the world needs!
I also agree with you that my students are behind on Critical thinking. I feel like I teach my students how to do something but it seems like all they learn is the example. It does get frustrating, but maybe the resources from this site will help us to change that.
ReplyDeleteI agree with your second paragraph. It is not enough anymore to just know your basic facts of reading and arithmetic. It is now required for our students to know how to navigate the vast internet that has swept the nation. It is amazing that most adults who are dependant on technology can not go a day without them. I am not saying that we should train our students to be this way, but to teach our students to do everything in the most efficient way possible. Time is against many of us rather then for us. When our students go into the corporate world or even in the educational world, it runs fast and furious.
ReplyDeleteHaving the resources for the teachers to teach their students are great way to start closing the disconnection of corporate and educational world on technology levels.
I heard that story (your last paragraph) many of times. It really blows my mind when I hear it after you just taught it. My freshmen are still having problems with solving for "y" because we have always solved for "x". I went through the same thing. I feel your pain. It will be okay. I find it amazing that after you teach something that you know they just did not get. After returning from their summer vacation, it finally sank in. I, still to this day, am dumbfounded of the fact.
Deanna,
ReplyDeleteDon't step off the soap box. I'll join you! Maybe one of these days they'll actually listen to US!lol
sorry I haven't responded sooner, my thoughtful students have shared their "germs" with me.