Ahhh . . . summer. I have really enjoyed my break during July--in fact--I think I checked my email only once (!), and while this was rejuvenating, I've been missing my electronic connections. Some say that educators never truly vacation; we are always engaged in rejuvenating and improving the classroom for our students. For me, this week, personal improvement/rejuvenation has taken the form of following these stories:
The expected, but sad, death of educator Randy Pausch, who unexpectedly found himself appointed a national voice for following our dreams (or enabling the dreams of others). His 'last lecture' resonated for so many people--but Randy himself referred to it as a 'bottle' cast into the water that would, in time, wash up on the shore for his three young children. If you haven't watched his lecture, here is the link: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-5700431505846055184
The NEA and AFT's May 2008 report on technology and education was the focus of a July 25th article by Michelle R. Davis titled, "NEA, AFT Report Outlines Ed-Tech Problems" http://www.edweek.org/dd/articles/2008/06/25/01report_web.h02.html?qs=nea%20aft%20survey. In general, the article highlights the study's identification of the gap between teacher perception of technology as a valuable instructional tool and the lack of teacher training for, and integration of, technology used in meaningful ways in the classroom.
Just as this study was getting me down, I came across the following press release: WASHINGTON, D.C. — July 17, 2008 – "The 21st Century Skills and Social Studies Map, the first of its kind to be released, demonstrates how the integration of 21st century skills into the social studies supports teaching and prepares students to become effective and productive citizens in the 21st century."
So I found the newly released map--linked here--and reviewed it. The first page comments that the map is the product of hundreds of hours of collaboration between the National Council for the Social Studies, the Partnership for 21st Century Learning, and feedback from educators and business leaders.
It links 21st Century skills to content-connected themes, student outcomes, and project examples. This map will not, alone, revolutionize education or fix the problem before us--how to TRULY integrate 21st Century skills into our classrooms--but it is movement in the right direction.
Everyone is attempting to define the 21st century . . . student . . . teacher . . . classroom, etc., but too few are seeking to truly concretize the concepts. As a teacher, I want specifics that I can implement in the fall. If we can't find them, then we need to create them ourselves. Here, at least, is a start.
P.S.--Janet Hyde, University of Wisconsin-Madison researcher, led a rather exciting study, released this week, showing that girls perform as well as boys in math at every level, from second to 11th grade. The study, based on standardized test scores of seven million children, reverse the findings of a 20 year old study that showed while girls performed similarly on math test in elementary grades, their scores in high school did not keep pace. One article about the study: http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5jGCXFmKVOXRYn17PlW7j72F2SqOgD924C9481also discussed researchers' side observation that many standardized tests fail to assess critical thinking skills and that the traditional gender gap noted in SAT and ACT test results might be attributable to the larger numbers of females taking the test and entering college.
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