Week 5 Interviews

Wiki experience

Developing a wiki... what an interesting experience... I can see the wisdom in working together as a team... each person contributes and participates on a huge project...Kind of like eating a huge elephant. the task is much to large for one person so by breaking the tasks into smaller parts with each person contributing the job gets done. Even with a task this large there still needed to be 1 or 2 that carried the bulk of the responsibility of set up. I think we as a team were grateful we has a few among us that were a little more computer literate than the rest of us. We are grateful they stepped up to the plate and ran with it. I think our Wiki turned out pretty good especially being it was a first experience for most of us.

21 Century Student

New technologies are coming to us at record breaking speed. To be successful in a technology rich environment, the student of the 21st century must be well informed and diverse in a multiplicity of skills. Educators all over the world are looking for resources to meet the growing need to help the students of tomorrow gain these skills. There is a website called 21st Century Skills that has emerged as the leading advocate to infuse these 21st Century skills into the education system. They profess to bring together business, community, educational leaders and policy makers. They have defined a powerful vision for every child's success as citizens and workers of the 21st Century. They also profess to provide tools and resources to help facilitate and drive this change.

My first reaction to this web site was... NO "stickiness" in other words... I did not find it to be a site I would want to return to often... I found it very bureaucratic not teacher friendly. There was a side bar with several articles concerning the need for 21st Century issues... I spent a lot of time searching but didn't really find any nuts and bolts on how to teach the skills for the 21st Century.

As I went back to reread the goal statement I discovered some very interesting insights. First this organization says they are bringing together businesses, community people and policy makers.... any maybe a few educators..to define a powerful vision... Why are policy makers and business people determining what should be taught...to the students of tomorrow? Next they "ensure" that every child will be a successful citizen.....Oh really? How do you ensure that every student succeed? What about the students that don't want to be educated... or the students that are hooked on drugs... or the students that drop out? I believe that when you work hard for something...you appreciate the results so much more... you have gratitude and you appreciate the journey. I believe when students are given a free ride.. when they don't have to put in the effort... they don't value anything....they become selfish and they expect a hand out. To ensure that all students succeed is unrealistic. Finally this Partnership encourages schools and districts and states to infuse and drive these changes into our education system... Well, right there I have huge red flags going up... Let's just shove this stuff through...

At first I kind of liked the States pages but now that I have looked at the goal statement in greater detail... I am not so impressed with anything on this site.

I believe it is our responsibility at educators to educate the leaders of tomorrow. We need to give them the skills needed to be successful in the 21 Century. Jobs and global markets are changing and the leaders of tomorrow need to be equipt not only with the basic academic skills but also life skills and technology skills... So how do we do that? I believe it will be one step at a time... I think teachers are eager to teach these skills but give the teacher's credit... Most have a least a 5 year education background. They know how to implement these skills if given the opportunity to collaborate.



http://www.21stcenturyskills.org/

I love teaching in the month of November. My excitement for teaching often spills over into the kids excitement for learning.. especially in reading. The Magic Tree House series by Mary Pope Osborn is one of my favorite. We start off November with a whole class reading of Thanksgiving on Thursday. We read 1 chapter a day, we have comprehension questions for each chapter and often have activities that help bring what's happening in the book to a more memorable experience. For example in chapter 2 when Jack and Annie are dressed in clothes like the Pilgrims, we make Pilgrim hats that we wear only when we are reading our book. (In case I didn't mention it... each student has their own copy of the book.) For each Magic Tree House book we also create a bookmark. We also have a reading response journal that we write in at the end of the unit. This is to remind us of the notebook that Jack always carries in all of his adventures.

Welcome

Welcome to my Blog! I look forward to sharing with you some of my most enjoyable teaching moments. I hope that you will feel free to join with me and share with me some of your most sensational teaching experiences. Together we can share ideas, discuss practices and create new avenues as we teach, build and shape the next generation of leaders