21st+century+skills

21st Century skills

1. What do we see as 21st Century? - __Neil__: hindrance to ability to focus is the issue with students immersing themselves in screens, etc. - How to teach kids to focus and concentrate? - Are kids’ brains changing to allow them to multi-task in ways we cannot? - Science News: Is technology producing a decline in critical thinking and analysis? - How do we teach kids to filter bias? 2. Question Topic: “Information Literacy” (__Bill__) examples: MartinLutherKing.org is the 3rd Google entry, and it is by stormfront.org, a white supremacy group! __Alex__: we learn best by having the experience of learning from an expert (guide) but also by learning what an expert is - learning how to use Google properly - classes’ building their own search engine – websites built by the kids that “live forever” - Most skills have a media literacy program (represented) - Wikipedia vs. wiki only errors vs. Brit. Britannica - Cyber bullying through Wikipedia at one school (8th graders) - Employment skills 21st century: agile minds vs. skills? - Communication skills: when do you talk to someone in person? When is it great to have an e-mail to disseminate info to a large group? - Supervision of kids’ use of technology: “gateway to the world” - __Alex__: very different conversations in public and private schools – private can create critical thinkers (select populations) 3. “Global perspective” – being able to empathize with people around the world - Canada change of government - “Holy Low: It’s summer in Australia!” - __Alex__: every kid should have an immersed foreign travel experience (21st century skill? --[|Based on TIME article]) - epals.com: teachers all over he world looking for a partner to do a program/project - But in contrast, how real when a person comes to you “in person” – to live with you and form a connection – a real relationship (ex: student from Africa) - __Bill__: you can create deep relationships online now. These tools allow you to communicate in genuine ways. - Look at the pressure kids in VI, VII and VIII feel to get on Facebook just to be with their friends. Is it about online vs. offline? Or healthy behavior? - Values Transcend: too much of any activity is not good. - “Think Globally, Act Locally” – learn through the community. Fear that distance learning affects interpersonal skills. - Our students more comfortable with the online school in Spain than the Spanish-speaking employees of the bodega down the block. - __Bill__: Educon.2.1: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania – every student teams up with a community member and does a ½ day internship weekly (high school) - __Alex__: High schools are only 100 years old – a century ago, most 14 year olds worked - Studies say our young people experience a “prolonged” adolescence - helicopter parents - __Sharon Knox__: Part of this discussion means bringing the parents in on the discussion. - The idea of every class having a site like the Joslyn one used by the classrooms to create community. - Will post piece “The End of Solitude” __Journal of Higher Education__ by Yale professor William Dushowitz – the generation that has lost the capacity for solitude and the concept of friendship - __JR__ (Buckley): Do we see our kids unable to be friends with one another? They do spend so much time “in school.” I don’t see my kids damaged in that way. - Is the virtual world that we see “connecting” actually eroding the connectivity? Ending “empathy?” - Our parents are too involved – do we want them to be more so? Kids not taking time to work things through. - __Ben__: more chances to make bad mistakes, but not essentially bad that they are doing it (online) - Kids so easily bored – need something provided for them to do. Why has it come to that point? - “Free, unstructured play?” - FUP is online now - Journal vs. online blogging – private - Packer: __Susan__ – How does this virtual world allow for character development? Less worried about “solitude” surviving – more concerned about the ability to grow up, identify as adults. - __Admeris__: How do we support teachers? What is our role as admins in supporting teachers? - We want students who are able to reflect – are comfortable with others, but who can handle solitude and space. - In schools, we focus so often on trying to provide the counterbalance – “The rest of the world will give them this, so we’ll concentrate on that.” - Easy to go in one direction or the other, rather than create the balance. - And shouldn’t the parent be teaching that? - In our school, we hire content experts, who do not necessarily know how to teach communication skills and emotional intelligence. - __Alex__: Schools which will be most successful will be able to analyze and implement the whole community into the discussions – students, teachers, admins and parents. It requires a whole community. - The computer is a tool – critical to teach the use of the tool – but, how does this tool affect the hard-wiring of the brain? Unless we have that info, a lot of it is conjecture. - But do we have a choice? - Yes – we don’t have to put kids on computers in kindergarten. Note: //adot-NYSAIS2009.wikispaces.com [|ISENET Ning Professional Social Network] Berkeley Carroll. Ben Chant PCI. Bill Knauer Coll. Alex Ragone

A few other 21st Century Skills Links:

[|eSchool News - Measuring 21st Century Skills] [|Education Sector Reports: Measuring Skills for the 21st Century] [|The Partnership for 21st Century Skills] [|Ken Kay, President of the Partnership for 21st Century Skills - Podcast] [|John Schinker - Defining 21st Century Skills]