The Partnership for 21st Century Skills are the critical systems necessary to ensure 21st century readiness for every student. Twenty-first century standards, assessments, curriculum, instruction, professional development and learning environments must be aligned to produce a support system that produces 21st century outcomes for today’s students.
The graphic representation for the framework is helpful, but I found it necessary to take the time to read through the definitions documents to fully understand and appreciate the elements. Although only 15 states have had legislation commit to alignment and writing state plans, many districts use the Partnership for 21st Century Skills framework as a guide to align their curriculum. On each state's page, there are countless tools and resources for teachers and administrators – each organized by support system, skill or knowledge. I consider the Iowa Route 21 website to be a valuable resource, and look forward to exploring the other 14 states' pages.
The state of Iowa has chosen to become a P21 Leadership State and began working on a common core curriculum in 2005. I have become very familiar with the Iowa Route 21 website and the Iowa Core Curriculum as a part of a district committee that I am on to rewrite district technology curriculum. We are aligning the standards, benchmarks and objectives in our curriculum to be in alignment with the Iowa Core. I also hope to see our district develop professional development for teachers, specifically in the area of Information, Media and Technology skills, as a support system to help produce 21st century learners.
It seems like technology is being considered a content area by itself. I was curious if the other content areas are writing in technology literacies as they apply to those areas? For example, there are research skills specific to the internet that could be written into social studies. Also, in language arts students could learn about how to create a bibliography from their web resources and how they should vet a site for accuracy. Another way technology skills can be included in other core areas is by having project output in tech rich forms like pod casts, web sites, or videos. Do you think your teachers are ready for that type of transition? I know mine are not quite there yet.
ReplyDeleteI checked the Iowa Core Curriculum website about grade 9 - 12 physical science (http://www.corecurriculum.iowa.gov/Discipline.aspx?C=Science&D=Physical+Science). Skills written are same as the skills that I taught until now. I could not find any example and written document about how to integrate 21st century skills in physics curriculum. Since you are actively working in curriculum development, can you provide some examples?
ReplyDeleteYour district seems to have embraced the fact that schools need to address the technology needs of your students. Also, professional development should and must be provided for teachers to understand how to use the technology they have in their classroom. Sadly the district I work in has cut all professional development due to lack of funding. I did not know until this week that Ohio is part of the Partnership for 21st Century Skills program. I was given a set of technology standards last year to incorporate throughout the content areas I teach and that was the last thing ever mentioned.
ReplyDeleteTo clarify the approach that we are taking in our district, curriculum is written for each subject area (math, science, language arts, social studies) and the standards and benchmarks that are outlined in the Iowa core are all in alignment. Our district teaches technology directly as a related arts subject (which is what I teach). I see grades 3-5 twice a week for 30 minutes and grades K-2 once a week for 30 minutes. The curriculum that I am writing aligns with the standards and benchmarks as outlined under "21st Century Skills - Technology Literacy". Although the curriculum I am writing is taught as a separate subject, the projects align to specific units of study in all the other subject areas. The classroom teachers are also expected to integrate the use of technology as they see fit - along with the other 21st Century Skills outlined on the Iowa Core (Civic Literacy, Employability Skills, Financial and Health Literacy). It can be overwhelming to look at all of the standards, but as teachers become more familiar with the objectives they realize that they are already teaching a lot of these skills. The adjustments are generally more in not what is taught, but rather how it is taught. Allowing students to be more in charge of their learning, practicing leadership skills, planning and working collaboratively and relating content to more real life community and global issues are some examples of how students can become better prepared for the 21st Century.
ReplyDeleteHi Cindy,
ReplyDeleteI don't know about the other districts in Ohio, but the one that I teach in, handed me a copy of the state technology standards and left it at that. If that is how they are taking part in the Partnership for 21st Century Skills, then they are missing the boat. We don't even have a licensed technology teacher! I try to incorporate as many of the tech standards in what I do in my 4th grade math class, but there is no way that I could possibly address all the standards or indicators that should be taught. We have never had any professional development or any type of meeting, as far as how we should incorporate these tech standards. I am curious to see how other Ohio school districts are dealing with this issue. Do you have a specific license to teach technology, or is it general education license?
Nadia - I have a Standard K-8 Teaching License, and have been Apple Certified to teach Apple Consumer and Professional Apps. Keep your head up, keep doing a great job in your classroom and get involved with anything you can when it comes to curriculum development. Knowing the standards is a good first step - perhaps some other teachers would be willing to collaborate with you in finding ways to fill any gaps you may see in the curriculum. Maybe you could start a wiki and share resources that way. That's what we do here in order to share info with job-alike teachers across the district. One step at a time - it's a process!
ReplyDeleteThank you for pointing out the positive changes that Iowa is making in 21st century curriculum. I was impressed that the technology literacy standards stressed collaboration, global participation, real-world issues, and critical thinking. It seems that technology literacy has well-represented supervision in your district? Unfortunately, where I teach we do not have a supervisor and no written curriculum. We are fortunate to have a computer teacher for 6th, 7th, and 8th grade, but I do feel that we are not where we should be to develop the critical thinking and communication skills that are vital in preparing students for the global world.
ReplyDeleteJill - although we're also not where we should be, the important thing is we're making changes in the right direction. It's a long process, but hopefully worthwhile in the end. Although our state has Common Core Curriculum standards, benchmarks and objectives - we're still in the process of aligning our curriculum at each grade level. Our district is being visited by the State Dept. of Ed. in March - so we should be making some good progress in the coming months.
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