Partnership incomplete. While technology Guru's pontificate what the educational landscape should look like in the 21st century and offer a vision, they really do not offer any substantive means to get there. Looking over the Web site -Partnership for 21st Century Skills, http://www.21stcenturyskills.org/, made me wonder what world they live in. It certainly is not mine because my state doesn’t have an initiative similar to the ones noted on their web site. While I recognize that a diverse country such as the USA crosses all economic, political, and social backgrounds, it is near impossible for this rhetoric to be spread evenly. If you’re lucky enough to live in one of the ten states this site shows has initiatives http://www.21stcenturyskills.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=505&Itemid=189 , congratulations! You are making progress down the road of Partnership for 21st Century Skills. If not, well I guess you’re stuck in 20th century.
Ken Kay’s welcoming video: Every Student Deserves World Class Knowledge & World Class Skills attempts to debunk a belief by many that the two are mutually exclusive. His urgent plea that the time for debate over this misconception is over, so we may quickly move forward integrating the two into the classroom through partnerships that bring the vision to fruition is noble. While he points to a small group of initiatives in a few states attempting to make this a reality, he really offers no substantive plan for taking it nationwide. While claiming to be the leading advocacy organization focused on infusing 21st century skills into education, the Partnership seems to offer little more than a vision with encouraging words like develop, define, encourage, ensure, and advocate. Noticeably missing are words like support and plan. Presenting a vision for 21st century skills and pushing it without all the major stakeholders on board limits movement to certain states in the nation. While I suppose this gyration may widen and bring more states onto the path of fundamental change in the education system, I am disappointed in its limited reach so far.
Until all state assessments reflect shifts from core content to core skills and content, little change will be seen in the classroom. Infusing 21st century skills for 21st century citizenry will be left to the teachers who invest large amounts of their own time and money attempting to provide their students with the skills and experiences they will need to successfully navigate the new landscape. Wouldn’t it be nice if ALL students were given the same tools and guidance?
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One of the areas that educators, mostly experienced but a growing number of early service, have with these types of initiatives is that they sell their ideas as a one size fits all. Follow the instructions on the website and all of our problems will be fixed. Like you mentioned the problems is that in reality there are a host of issues that our students need to overcome before technology can have a benefit, I am thinking of the struggling reader now. I don't think that we need to rethink the goals and objectives of teaching. We still want our students to move through the levels of understanding and knowledge acquisition. The difference with the technology is the greater access to information and greater ability to create new products. If we focus on information gathering and product creation we still provide our students with 21st century skills and preserving our traditional approaches to education.
ReplyDeleteNathan,
ReplyDeleteIt was interesting to read your feeling on the Partnerhsip's website. They state their mission is to develop partnerships with schools but I was unable to locate any ways that they were meaningfully partnering with schools to promote these essential skills. I found that very disappointing. When you read the list of corporate sponsors, these are huge companies that could provide more resources to our schools or lobby the federal government to provide the resources and training necessary to make the changes. It is easy to sit on the outside and tell schools and teachers what they should be doing (on top of everything else we are already doing) without providing a viable plan. At the very least, I would have liked to have found some meaningful lessons that I could implement in my classroom to help my students develop these essential skills. The majority of the information I found in the tools and resources section was trying to sell me something.
It does look like some states are on their way- how did they get there? How can other states get started? How can we level the playing field for all of our students? I would like to see some meaningful and realistic input on these issues.
Tracy,
ReplyDeleteYou point out some very true, alarming, and profound criticisms. All to often we as educators have to defend what we are doing to people on the outside of education. It seems that as long as you have gone to school you feel that you have the right to criticize. The unfortunate effect of all of these outsiders presenting their two cents worth of thought is that we tend to tune them out and continue working the way we normally do. It becomes frustrating because even with well intended and thought out ideas there tends to never be an implementation component.
'Wouldn’t it be nice if ALL students were given the same tools and guidance?'
ReplyDeleteNathan we currently share the same virtual classroom. And by reading through the many posts of our class discussions, I am correct in my assumption that Technology integrated in the classroom is a brand new territory for us all. Nevertheless, in this class we are provided with a new language and tools that we, four weeks ago had no idea existed. We are, often with much struggle, acquiring the skills of the 21st Century Skills referenced in the site we are critiquing this week.
What fact is most important is that WE ARE the educators (while yet also students) scattered in different areas of the United States who are also being “given the same tools and guidance” of those ten states who have joined the organization Partnership for 21st Century Skills .
Now with each of us in this class yearning to shape our mindset to that of an 21st Century thinker, can you imagine the power this kinetic energy can bring to our schools?