My Reaction to www.21stcenturyskills.org/

When I first started to browse the website, I felt a little overwhelmed. The more I browsed, the more I felt like I was looking at a web page that was created by a government or corporation that talks a lot, but does little. The main thing that I was surprised by was there are only a few lessons for teachers to help them teach 21st century skills. A majority of what is on the site is talking about how states and teachers need to incorporate these skills into the classroom, but it was very hard to find ways to do this. Overall, I would say the site is very informational, but a little confusing because of the massive amount of literature about how everyone needs to teach 21st century skills. I think this website is helping to start the movement of teaching 21st century skills, but I think it should take a greater part in providing lessons for each type of "core subject" that the site lists.

Blogging in the Classroom

I teach at a Title 1 school in a school in the suburbs of Atlanta, Georgia. Many of my students don't have the Internet. This makes it very hard to include a blog in my classroom. Taking into account my circumstances I have thought of some different ways to use a blog in my 7th grade social studies classroom. I think I can use a blog to talk about current events with my students. I can post an article about a topic we are covering in class along with my thoughts about the situation. I then could take my students to the computer lab or give my students assigned time on the classroom computer to respond to the topic. For instance, I give my students a current event every week to read at home. This week is about the situation in Darfur. Specifically about asking the President of Sudan to surrender to the International Criminal Court. After they read the article I can have each student respond to specific questions I have on the blog and give them time to respond. I can check in everyday and grade the responses. I think this will give the students freedom to work on their own, while learning about state standards, and being able to talk to the class without being on the spot in front of 28 other people.

TWIC (This Week In Class)

This week in class I am taking my classes to the computer lab to complete a web quest about African Cultures. During this web quest the students will get information about different cultures across Africa. After they do their web quest they will research African Tribal masks and then create their own Tribal mask. I used this assignment last year and my students enjoyed it very much. I hope that my students this year will enjoy it even more.

Tony's Blog