21st Centruy Skills (www.p21.org)

        In order for our students to keep up with the rest of the world 21st Century skills are need.  Thankfully P21 is here to helps us make that a reality.  With the help of major sponsors like Apple, Ford, and Disney P21 has been able to conduct research and provide tool to help educator and administrators be successful in their desire to prepare their student for life after school.  The information on this site was well done and extremely informative, my one struggle was in navigating the site,  there were too man links that would bring you to a series of other links.  I think it could use some cleaning up in that regard. 
        Something in the teacher resource section that stood out to me is that the students desire to feel safe and secure is still essential in order for them to be successful in the 21st Century classroom.  After that the students need to feel supported.  Lastly, they need to be challenged.  It amazes me how Maslow's most basic need still holds true today. 
        Another piece of information that I found enlightening is the history of education.  It was interesting to see the shifts made in education to meet the times that they were in.  It made me think about how the teachers back then responded to the changes in education.  I wonder if they felt as hesitant or anxious as some teachers do now? 
        One thing that struck me was that after reading over the corporate sponsorships I felt that it was great that they were support a website like this, but could they be doing more?  I think that some of these major companies should be supporting school directly.  Apple does not assist schools to the degree that they should.  They barely discount their resources for education.  They shouldn't be looking to make a huge profit off of schools.   Ford could be doing a better job in potentially financing STEM programs for school.  If these companies cold plant their roots now it could only help them in the future. 
       Our students need to get back to the top.  With all the resources that we have available our students should be able to return to the dominance that they once had.  In order for this to happen it will require a lot of flexibility on the part of the students and the teachers.  As a teacher, I need to be willing to let go of some of my preconceived notions of how things should be taught, and embrace the new resources available to me.  It is very hard to move out of that comfort zone. 

To learn more about the Partnership for 21st Century Skills check out its website at www.p21.org .

Using a Blog to Learn About the States

The first few years that I taught 5th grade we used to have our students complete a state report.  Each child would choose a state to become an expert on.  Each week they would complete a different aspect of the project.  The project took forever!  Sure the student were proud of their work, but they only people that read it all was me and most likely their parents at Open House.  Needless to say, after a few years I decided to drop this massive project. 

One of my focuses this year is to better utilize my class blog. I decided to morph the massive states project into a web based blog project.  Weekly my students will need to respond to some sort of prompt requiring them to research an aspect of their selected state.  Some sample prompts could be, write a paragraph about how your state got its name, or what is the history of the states motto.  By turning this into a blog, my students will be able to read what their peers are posting.  I will also be requiring them to respond to two of their classmates posts.  I believe that students will become more engaged in their learning, and they will have opportunities to learn about so many more states.  It is a win win situation. 

One note of caution, before instituting a blog in your classroom make sure that it is OK with your school district.  Secondly, and most importantly, make sure your students know proper etiquette for blogging and the internet in general.  If you can teach your students to be good digital citizens now it will help them out in the long run.   

Happy Blogging!


If you are teaching about the states, here's a fun YouTube clip to show your students. 

180 Days Till Summer

The bell rings on the first day of school and it all becomes real.  Here comes 30 new kids, 30 sets of expectations, 30 new names to memorize.  Who's more nervous, me or them?  The longer I've taught the easier at has become.  Sure, I get the nervous jitters in my stomach as I open the door to great my students for the first time, but after that the real fun begins.

For me, the first week of school is all about getting to know your students and setting the tone for the year.  I want my students leaving after the first day of school feeling like they are part of team.  I've learned to not worry about teaching every single routine.  I stress what is necessary so that I can get to what actually matters, my students learning.  The other stuff will be brought up naturally in a more authentic setting.