Curriculum--Instructional practices are in place to teach and measure student achievement of essential 21st century skills, and engage students in learning experiences aligned to an updated curriculum map.-All students have opportunities to participate in learning experiences that go beyond the walls of the traditional classroom that are aligned to academic standards and 21st century skills, which allow students to explore, identify and pursue their passions.-Grading and reporting practices reflect the academic standards and 21st century skills.
Do you see similar goals/plans of action in your district? If so, do you see them being implemented? Do you think more focus on 21st-century skills is necessary for our students' success? Why do you think my district is trying to enhance this part of the curriculum rather than highlighting literacy or math?
I am posing this question because during last week's class when we were comparing philosophers we discussed the importance of educating "man" to be a scholar vs. a common man with vocational/technical skills. Are we fixated on the "college path?"
Hey! Your point is relevant to some of the interventions going on in my district. In my school we deal with a lot of trauma and we tend to focus highly on social/emotional issues. Along with addressing the trauma we are trained to teach specific ways to cope and address life scenarios. Due to the high focus on students thinking and addressing emotional skills, our curriculum then reflects this same way of thinking and guiding our kids to think for themselves. I would like to say that teaching them the skills to think for themselves and addressing emotional interests also play an important role in how you teach and learn because now you are focused on students thoughts about the math and writing before even setting specific goals for them. The feelings about a subject is usually the first thing we think about when diving into the content. When I was a kid I remember having such stress about spelling, and now I feel as if I address how they think about a word before asking them to even spell it correctly. In turn when we face our emotional fears about something than we can be better faced with the challenge of overcoming it. I believe this may be also in response to the culture our society is becoming from all the trauma of mass shootings in schools. We as educators need to take an initiative to improve the quality of student lives before they can focus on academics overall.
ReplyDeleteI unfortunately do not see the same types of goals in my school. I believe that most teachers try to implement those types of goals within their classroom, but the district does not make 21st century skills a priority. The district that I work in focuses more on language arts and mathematics. This year specifically, we are focusing more on writing across the curriculum. I believe that our school focuses more on doing well on a test and preparing students to go to college.
ReplyDeleteI believe that it would be more beneficial to focus on more vocational and technical skills. It would be great if schools could provide more options for students to learn and explore vocational skills. This would be more helpful for students in the future who feel that they would not be successful in the math class.
Christine Joannidis
When we think about the fact that the 21st century began nearly 20 years ago, I question what exactly "21st Century Skills" look like. Granted, we still have a long way to go in the 21st Century, but think about how much has changed in our world in the past 20 years. What will the year 2040 look like and how are we preparing our students? Unfortunately, none of us can answer what 20 years from now will look like, but, we can see the progress that has occurred in the past 20 years and the rate in which it has taken place. When I read these goals, I do not see that the district is highlighting these skills over math and literacy, but rather, attempting to incorporate global connectedness and technology in to the curriculum to enhance student learning using literacy and math. One can argue that students must be prepared to navigate and properly use digital platforms and even social media in order to be successful in any field, including those technical fields, like mechanics. If we, as educators, are not teaching these skills, than who is? I would love to see a strategic plan such as this in my district, making it more of a priority rather than an "extra thing" for teachers to do. I am hopeful that with our new superintendent we will begin to see these philosophies in our curriculum.
ReplyDeleteI have to agree with Christine J. In my school we do not put much focus on the 21st century skills. They are listed in the science curriculum and I try to incorporate them into my class, but my school is mainly focused on writing across the curriculum. Writing is very important in my school, the principal has made it his personal goal to have all subject areas writing sufficiently for that grade level.
ReplyDeleteI believe that my school puts a lot of importance on college and test prep/grades. There are very few students who are interested or seek information about vocational schools. Usually, it is the special ed students who are encouraged to go to vocational/technical schools. I believe schools should have a more active role in encouraging students to look into vocational schools to help them find out things that they might like to do as careers instead of forcing them to go to college.
Molly Allister
I like the spirit of these goals, particularly the one that lands on encouraging students to engage in experiences beyond the classroom and allowing them to pursue their passions. The trouble is, I'm not sure how these high ideals get accomplished through developing students' 21st century skills. (Whatever they are. I share Diana's concerns about the lack of definition of "21st century skills.")
ReplyDeleteWith regard to Emily's question of whether greater focus should be put on developing students' 21st century skills is necessary for their success, my feeling is that most students are doing fine in being exposed to technology. Even in the Passaic Public Schools district, where a tremendous number of families live below the poverty line, most students had smartphones. We also had one-to-one devices - every kid had access to a Chrome book.
I think the technology boom is old news. Students are being exposed to a ton of information, and what they need are more 16th, 17th and 18th century skills. We need to instill the spirit of The Enlightenment in our students - encourage them to question widely-accepted notions as Galileo did, ignite them to self-actualize as individuals endowed with inalienable rights as Locke and Jefferson did, and pursue ideals of a more perfect world as our nation builders did.
Paul Brubaker