The Partnership for 21st Century Skills

After reviewing the website for The Partnership for 21st Century Skills ( http://www.21stcenturyskills.org/ ), I was really impressed with the goals and focus of the organization. I am really glad, as an educator trying to develop these skills that a group and a site like this exists. In my post for my class discussion I mentioned that it's important for students to not only gain knowledge, but also skills to be successful and after reading the organizations misson statement it is clear that they see the need for students to have a combination of both. I was impressed to see that they were working with a handful of states to help implement new plans to integrate new standards and programs. Although my state, Washington, was not listed I hope to see their outreach expand to more states like mine as they continue to gain recognition. I was actually surprised that my state was not on the list, because we have a lot of famous technology leaders like Microsoft, Amazon, and Nintendo that give us a reputation for being in touch with the 21st century. I found a lot of great content on their "Route 21" portion of their website. I particularly enjoyed the snapshots section that showcased videos of some of these skills in practice in classrooms. If I could say anything that I didn't like about the site, it would only be in the "Resources for 21st Century Skills" portion of Route 21. I found it a bit confusing and difficult to navigate, although after spending some time exploring I found a lot of great links. I think a website like is a great step in the right direction. For teachers it means that there is a group out there who recognizes that these skills should be included in every classroom. It is nice to know that a support system like this does exist and my hope is that they expand that impact into all states. For students, it means that we are moving in the right direction and that direction is into the 21st century as future thinkers and innovators.

Using Blogs in the Classroom

Sure, blogs are a nice for sharing opinions and information, but do they have a place in the classroom. Blogs have entered into every day vocabulary within just the past few years, so the possibilities for utilizing this new technology hasn't been fully explored and utilized. With how easy it is to create and post content onto the internet their are many ways that teachers can get creative and use blogs. The benefits of blogging is that students can interact in a situation where they can build writing skills and have more control of their own learning experience. I teach in a 4th grade classroom and have been considering incorporating blogs. Here are a few ideas that I have come up with for using blogs in the classroom....

Teacher Created Blogs

1. Posting answers to questions- Teachers can post questions in blogs that students can respond to. Once students start to respond they can build off of other responses and really construct their own learning with the help of their classmates.

2. Blogs from history- I thought it would be really fun to create a blog as a historical figure and write to students in the class. The students could then post questions to that figure and interact like they were really sharing a dialogue with someone from the past. Hopefully students would be engaged and want to learn more through this experience.

Student Created Blogs

3. Student Current Event Blogs- Students could each pick or be assigned a topic related to news to blog about each week. An example might be one student is reporting on environmental news while another student reports on news related to the War in Iraq. By reporting weekly, students would do research and be able to share links to news stories and opinions. In turn, students could have the assignment of responding to a select number of blogs which would give students the chance to learn from other students reports.

4. Video blogs- Video content has become so easy to create that it could easily be added into an assignment. By creating video blogs where they share things that they have learned or opinions about things that they are learning they can take that interaction to an even further level. It wouldn't have to stop at students just talking either, it could be a student doing a science experiment on camera and then talking about the results of the experiment. Another idea would be a student showing teaching a skill that they know how to do for other students to see.. an example could be a student teaching how to tie a necktie or do a proper push-up. Students could write the script, produce the video, post the content, and then respond to other video blogs.

Let me know what you think and if you have any other ideas that you would like to share. Until then, keep blogging.
Mr. Henne

New Educational Technology from CES 2009.

If you are into new technology, like me, you were keeping your eyes on CES or the Consumer Electronic Show. The products shown at this convention in Las Vegas showed some of the new technologies that will be showing up in products we will use in our everyday lives. After reading about all the new products that companies were unveiling I started thinking about the application of some of this new technology in classrooms. Sure there are plenty of things like cell phones and flat screen tvs that really don't have much place in the classroom, but there were a couple things that I thought were worth mentioning.

1. Programming for Kids

This year Bill Gates handed the keys to his kingdom to new CEO Michael Ballmer who showed out some of the new things to come out of the Microsoft camp during the keynote speech. The big news was about the new version of Windows coming out later this year called Windows 7. The thing worth mentioning about Windows 7, for educator purposes, is that it will incorpororate new touch screen technology which might be useful in a classroom for easier interface for students. However the one thing that made me think about education from the Microsoft opening speech was an introduction of a program called Kodu. Kodu is a program that requires no programming language skills and lets you pick and choose the elements of your design with point and click. In the showcase a 12 year old showed off a game that she had designed. My feelings are that, for kids who are into computers, having a simple design for those who want to make their own games is a great educational opportunity. We need programmers to continue to deveop technology and software. Those programmers have to start somewhere and Kodu might be a good place.

2. 3-D in the classroom

Nvidia, famous for designing graphic cards, showed off a set of 3D glasses that hook up to your computer and let you play some of your favorite games in 3D. Does 3D technology have a place in the classroom? I think it will, but I think it will take some time. I imagine a classroom full of kids going on a virtual field trip through Ancient Greece or exploring the International Space Station (which will probably be complete by the time this technology is possible). 3D technology has been popular in the past and died out, but is making a comeback courtesy of new technology. Anyone who has seen an Imax or animated movie in 3D knows it's not the old red and blue cheap technology of the past. It's becoming a real option that directors like James Cameron, who is releasing Avatar later this year in 3D, and Peter Jackson, who is in talks of making his new Hobbit films in 3D as well as a re-release of his Lord of the Rings Trilogy remastered in 3D. The problem encountered with these films is that needed special projectors and screens to be played on, but new technology is being developed to show these fims on existing equipment. You will see it in theatres with 9 out of the 10 next Disney movies coming out in 3D..... It's hard to say if 3D movies will go the way of the HD-DVD and die out gracefully or if it will blow up and make its way into everything we do. If it does we might just be seeing 3D technology making its way into our classrooms in the future.

If you are interested in learning more about 3D films coming out this year or where theatres that show 3D films are located in your area here is a link to a great website I found...

http://marketsaw.blogspot.com/2007/04/list-of-upcoming-3d-movies.html

Although this isn't a long list, it does give you something to think about as technology continues to shape the future of our classrooms.