Over the last few years in my school district there has been lots of talk about 21st century skills and teaching them in the classroom. On the website
Partnership for 21st century learning you will find a great deal of information about what teaching 21st century skills is all about. On the website you can find out what initiatives there are you in your state or surrounding states. I was a bit disappointed that Tennessee was not listed as having made a commitment to integrating 21st century skills on a state level. In our district this concept has been pushed for several years but in Tennessee it must be a district to district initiative. In my district the term "common core" has been tossed around and I have heard that our district will be implementing common core standards next year, and I have to admit I really didn't know what this meant until I read more about it on this website. One of the biggest things I see when it comes to 21st century skills, is that these ideas are big idea skills and relate to all content areas. I've always been a big idea or big concept person so these concepts makes a lot of sense to me. Over the last few years my teaching team or PLC has worked every year to develop and teach interdisciplinary units and it is a very difficult thing to do. Especially when you have six content areas and six very different teachers, with all different teaching styles, it can be hard to get on one page and to successfully do a interdisciplinary unit. For years we have been discouraged because it just seemed too difficult. However, if you were to focus on using 21st century skills as our interdisciplinary unit, it might be much more successful.
Another thing that I found useful on the website was the
resources section. There are links to many different websites that I know will be very helpful once we start using common core next year. They also have the resource rated to find the most helpful of resources.
I really believe that these concepts of implementing 21st century skills is the best for educating our students. As we progress in teaching hopefully we will see more and more educators trying these techniques to engage learners.
Resources:
Partnership for 21st Century Skills. (2011). Retrieved 05 23, 2012, from Partnership for 21st Century Skills: http://www.p21.org
Partnership for 21st Century Skills. (2011) Route 21. Retrieved 05 23, 2012 from Partnership for 21st Century skills:http://route21.p21.org/index.php?option=com_jlibrary&view=browse&Itemid=179
Hi Layla,
ReplyDeleteThe Partnership for 21st Century Skills is useful. Some other useful resources are the 21st century skill maps (http://www.p21.org/tools-and-resources/publications/1017-educators#SkillsMaps). They have expectations for many subjects (including geography) that explain where students should be during their educational journey from elementary to high school.
These would also prove useful as you work with your colleagues in the development of interdisciplinary units (IDUs). In the program I teach (IB MYP), IDUs are a requirement, and they are designed to have a common summative assessment that incorporates the subject areas involved. However, we would never do an IDU that incorporated six subjects. In our IDU development guide from the IB program, they recommend an IDU between 2 subjects, and maybe 3. The problem is that as you add more subjects it gets more and more complicated to create an authentic assessment that requires the skills and knowledge from the various subjects involved. If the assessment is not authentic or feels forced, we will not do it.
Framing an IDU around the 21st century skills is a good idea and it might make it possible to incorporate all of the subjects at your school, if that is one of your requirements. Especially if the focus is on using technology, because then the content is not so important.
Best of luck with making your IDUs work next year.
Cheers,
Ben
I agree Ben, trying to incorporate all 6 content areas it just crazy. I have worked with 2 or 3 other teachers and it works much better and produces real authentic meaningful learning. For some reason, very year the administrators and up believe that to make something interdisciplinary it must incorporate all their content areas. Some days I think it just so we look good on paper, but that's how education is some days, for looks.
DeleteWe start planning in the summer on ways we as a PLC team can overlap and I will most certainly bring up some of these concepts for 21st century skill website to help focus us. That way it can enhance the learning instead of forcing it so much.
For example this past year we decided to do a themed unit that revolved around "The Odyssey" and we all gave it some effort but it really didn't work. On paper it looked fantastic but in the classroom it was too forced.
Thanks for your comments.
Hi Layla,
ReplyDeleteThe Partnership for 21st century skills (P21) is a great website that really can help you insert skills, technology and the common core standards into your lessons. Many states and districts are moving towards adapting the common core standards. Creating standards that will be the same for all states will change education drastically. Now the standards by state vary and students in one state might know different skills and have different knowledge from another state. The Common Core standards will help unify the countries education system and we will all be on the same page. Unfortunately, there are still a handful of states that have not formally adopted these standards. Taking all of the resources provided on the P21 website you and your team can get some great ideas on how to work together successfully in creating a unit.
The P21 has something like a curriculum map but they are 21st century skills maps for a variety of subjects that should give you ideas on how to plan our your subjects and lessons. I see that the URL is also posted by Ben. These maps should be able to give you a starting point on using technology, skills and the common core standards. My school district has been requiring teachers to use the 21st century skills and they encourage and look favorably upon the integration of technology. Adding the common core transitions will make it difficult for many teachers to change and revamp everything they have been doing. However, this will be for the good of the students. I am sure that you and your team will be able to create successful interdisciplinary units in your school.
Aneta
Hi Layla,
ReplyDeleteProfessional learning Communities (PLCs) are utilized in our school district to create effective strategies in which to incorporate 21st century skills into the daily curriculum. Some strategies include, but are not limited to: creating cross disciplinary lessons, team teaching, inclusion with the support of special education department, and departmentalizing in grades 3 through 5 so teachers can focus on one core subject at a time. Not only are staff members having to be trained on the implementation of these strategies they must also begin to view student success in a broader fashion as it relates to ‘complete’ mastery. What is meant by complete mastery is that students must be able to work collaboratively in the educational environment as well as the workplace. It is important that staff and students are aware of the importance of this initiative and how it will impact them in the future. Putting emphasis on understanding the skills and the personal impact on the school’s overall performance is imperative as it relates to student success.