21st+Century+Skills

On this page post at least two questions/comments on the reading assigned for next week on 21st century skills.

From Puja Daga A comment: After reading the article, //21 Century Readiness in New Jersey//, I went to the NJCCCS website to compare the 2004 standards with the new 2009 standards. I noticed that the questions that the new standards ask are more open-ended than the ones before. To achieve the standard, students are required to think critically and problem-solve. I compared the 1st grade Language arts standards (2004) to the standards is 2009 and found that the new standards ask for students to illustrate and explain, describe, and compare. However, the old ones ask for students to know, use and comprehend (very broad). I can see how the new standards are trying to help the students become more globalized. After reading there standards, I feel that through work of the teacher, s/he may be able to accomplish this goal. It will take time but it will be interesting to see the changes that take place in the students, the future citizens of America.

A question: It is common phrase, teachers are teaching to the test. For the standards to be fully affective, it is important for teachers to do the opposite of the above phrase. But, is that possible? Standardized exams are a dark cloud that looms on all teachers all year. If they want to follow the new standards and achieve the goal that the standards are asking, they cannot teach to the test. That defeats the three goals that the article talked about. So, my question is, do you think there will be any measures taken to decrease the stress teachers and students take on about standardized testing now that more emphasis seems to be put on globalization?
 * Cindy's response: I would sure hope so. As a high school teacher of 11th grade students, I have to incorporate test prep everyday. I am "forced" to complete a SAT/PSAT/HSPA problem a day with them, talking about various ways to solve those types of problems and the test taking strategies that can be applied. That of course came with a cost and that cost was an entire chapter at the end of year. From my first year of teaching to my fourth, we are covering less material so that we can better prepare them for the state tests. So again I would hope that state testing results would become less of a threat if more applications of outside world current events must be incorporated throughout the year. But I guess there is still something to say about just changing the concepts of these problems to be about the ideas discussed in the article and therefore sparking a conversation from that.


 * Nuno's response: I totally agree with Cindy. I 'm also a high school math teacher and we spend so much time focused on preparing the students for standardized tests, that we barely teach them real math. I think that the new standards are a great idea to get our nation's students ready for a globalized world. The only problem is that these standards are pointless in certain districts, until we stop stressing the standardized tests, and actually begin placing the responsibility of education on the students and their parents. Everyone compares the U.S. to other countries, and how we are lagging behind in education, but many need to realize that in those countries students enter into secondary education with a much better foundation in math, science, and technology. We also need better technology in all our schools if we are to apply most of the new standards.


 * Samantha's response: I think no matter what subject material you are teaching there is one critical theme that helps students put their ideas into perspective as far as teaching to the test is concerned. All schools want their students to outperform other districts, and basically achieve at an above average level. This is why they use test scores as a gauge for how students and teachers are both performing. I do not necessarily see any end in sight as far as I have heard...in fact, I have heard just the opposite - that teachers will be getting paid according to how well students' perform (in New York state for now, at least) on standardized testing - so in response to the question, "no," I do not believe more emphasis will be placed on Globalization - at least not until the students who are currently in school get out into the "real world." and prove what they can do - or not do! I think that critical thinking, reading, and writing is the foundation of all progress toward our desired outcome. There are specific steps to follow in order to achieve this. They include: looking for signs of different feelings (in regards to testing/learning), explaining the issues, deciding on a goal, brainstorming for a solution, discussing consequences, choosing the best solution, planning it, trying it, and finally, rethinking it. This was one way my former school used to practice educating students - and they believe it helped tremendously, as teachers integrated and shared with relevant information with students in daily activities by employing the skills of comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis, and evaluation to ultimately aid in the student's growth.

Leana's Questions/Comments

The 21st Century Learning Skills are essential for students, and the framework section provided details about what is expected from students and teachers. My question is, as always, I don't know if it is quite possible in the U.S to have everyone on the same page, so while these ideas encourage global learning, critical thinking, and independent investigation of learning to increase student motivation, I wonder how we are to achieve this when not all states and schools are in agreement with standards of learning. I feel that the goals of 21st Century Learning are what we need to work for in education, but I am not exactly sure how we plan to get there. The system is broken and will take a long time to repair, and these ideals are ready for implementation now. Beginning to have these expectations when we still have NCLB haunting us is conflicting and difficult for teachers. Much time needs to be spent on professional development, and re-consideration on how we asses student learning and measure achievement. My other question is exactly how to implement skills such as environmental literacy and creativity and innovation when we are still using standardized test that are a "one size-fits all" format of assessment? Cindy's Comments/Questions: The 21st Century Readiness initiative is an important one. The world is changing everyday and it’s important for educators to keep up with it. Society has formed new norms and ways of life that did not exist years ago and it’s important to prepare our students, yes, academically, but also for surviving comfortably in the “real world.” Although some my say it’s the responsibility of the parents to extend their knowledge and awareness of real world issues, we are finding this more unlikely. Schools are becoming more responsible for making their students well-rounded enough to become successful in the future. The only issue I can see with all of this is the assessment factor. How can you truly judge whether or not a school is meeting these standards and students are benefitting from the courses? Would these standards be an actual separate course or will they be implemented through a variety of courses? How would veteran teachers feel about changing their habits and methods of teachings to meet all these new ideas? Nick's Comments/Questions:  Answering Cindy's question about teachers changing their habits... I believe that a good teacher changes how they teach in order to best suit their students. In a world where technology is changing at such a radical pace every month it seems, students are changing at a similar pace. Teachers need to constantly better themselves as these changes are happening, and as the standards change, teachers need to do the same. With the new addition to open-ended questions being added to testing, it forces student to reach a higher level of thinking. I understand how Cindy feels like she is covering less material, and when we see it in one perspective, we feel, as teachers, that we have not fulfilled "our job" as mediums in knowledge comprehension. The standards say that it is required now to prepare our students and make sure they will be able to function in the world they will be entering. In my opinion, being able to think at a higher level is far more important in the world we are apart of than it is to know what the integral of some function is. Although we may cover less material, it does not mean that we are doing any less as teachers. A question I have is similar to Leana's. Assessment has become a crucial part of education. Students from Southern California will absolutely be more interested in certain subjects than we are in New Jersey. They may also learn in different ways (compare ideas to different prior knowledge). How do come up with universal ways of assessment if styles of learning vary drastically across the US? My next issue is that the new standards emphasize thinking creatively. Everything we have done in the past couple years has diminished opportunities to think creatively. With standardized tests being focused on routine and basically knowledge memorization, how are we going to drastically change everything we are used to doing to meet these standards? Nuno's Comment: In response to Nick's question, I think that kids can't think creatively because they many of them have touble just mastering the fundamentals. How can you creatively solve a math problem when you don't even know how to multiply. I for one believe that we should actually go back to the way we were taught when we were younger, because, at least from my point of view, it seemed to have worked. Students today lack the basics more often than not. In terms of an assessment for the whole country, I think that there should be an SAT type test administered to every high school student in the country. By passing this test, and your classes of course, would be the ONLY way to get a high school diploma. I think that the country is just afraid to see so many students fail, but if that's what it takes to make students more responsible than so be it. SJLB03 Comment: This is Samantha (L), and I hope this message gets to Prof. Gupta's Wiki discussion space, as my Mac hasn't been cooperating with Blackboard and the Kean tech people were great in assisting me, but I don't believe my message will post until they reconfigure my account. On a side note, if anyone ever needs help with their connection, check out the phone number listed on the website that checks your browser's compatibility with the currently running BlackBoard system, and there is a phone number given in case anyone needs further assistance. I personally found it very helpful, even though I waited 15 minutes to merely get a live representative on the line to help me. Ironically, I never had any real problems needed to use them throughout the first day I enrolled in grad school at Kean back in 2004 - yet, this semester alone, I have called over 3 times, simply because I have to learn how MAC OS X worksoperating sof tech department; I have only used them twice in the past month out of the entire 6 years I have technically been a graduate student at Kean...they are helping me understand how Mac systems work, though!taking classes on & offcoming and going to Keandirectly links a student who is having computer problems line (which anyone can call for assistance if/when they're having computer problems, and not only does it have to deal with BlackBoard issues. In case anyone cares to use this one day - the number is found on the BlackBoard sign in page and it generally takes about especially configurations were preventing me from posting due to some configuration problem with my computer - when it gets fixed, I hope my Comments and Questions pop-into the discussion page. Samantha L's Comment:  I believe the question Nick posed can be interpreted and answered in many ways, or from many angles. I personally find students ’ achievement to be a reflection of their innate creativity in approaching learning any topic. However, this is one faculty that students lack. They are often exposed to open-ended questions and/or projects that are given as assignments, yet they are consistently unable to execute the task at hand. To clarify, for example, although the students I teach have scored exceptionally high on their Terra Novas (as was proven in our Middle States Report, considering as a group, our students have performed so well on standardized assessments, however their achievement in school is not reflecting their intellectual capacity for learning). Best case and point is when I introduce each and every "new" assignment that involves “creative-thinking” or critical thinking.  I consistently preface the project/assignment with the following words: "This is your time to **not worry about the answers found in the book, recall minute facts about the book, recite anything from direct memory and spew it back at me! This is your time to reflect on all that knowledge you have gained!** After years of compl, it is possibly one of the greatest and most shocking moments for me when I give similar instructions to a class when the work requires them to complete an open-ended question that requires them to write in their journals (e.g. Journals are portions of each student's notebook that will not be graded, nor will they be viewed by me; instead, they are reflection tools, designed to give downtime ignite material and thoughts for the purpose of project initiation after all the hard work is completed) nstead it is your opportunity to express yourself and show your creative side based on (for example) the book we finished reading, a what you have read when dealing with questions that are open-ended, or in other words, open to one's own interpretation, there are //**no correct answers,**// considering I (as the teacher) want them to express their creativity (as well as their capacity to think critically **//based on//** thinking skills). nfortunately, this statement is not easily or well-interpreted by my students. I am unsure if the difficulty with certain students (basically all students, to be clear, although upsettingly accurate) is partially because I work in a high-income, very quaint, middle-upper-class neighborhood, where it is commonplace for some parents to complete their children's artwork, let alone critical thinking homework. Perhaps this is the first step in collaborating on increasing critical thinking skills and abilities. Instead of having parents consistently question their child's grades, have parents teach their children how to be that inquisitive when dealing with internal questions. If I had all day, I would continue to respond to the thread of the two initial ideas and concepts posted by Nick, as well as the reflective and creative response and comments posed by Nuno, regarding the importance of how to facilitate strong cognitive abilities among today's students by means of integrating higher-level thinking skills and strategies: I believe that children have trouble thinking "creatively" simply due to the fact that they believe on some level that there is only one "correct" or "right" answer to a question. Perhaps there was not much fostering of individual thinking within their previous classes, as well as their home lives. Moreover, perhaps students are so driven by information they have constant access to everyday of their lives - including the Internet, Television, Radio, Cell Phones, i-Pods, text messages, and all other forms of mass media that they are connected to. For reasons unbeknownst to me, the generation growing up side-by-side the technology-driven atmosphere is increasingly scared of being "wrong." They do not consider the fact that every person is entitled to his or her own unique opinion without it being labeled as correct or incorrect; devices such as the ipod or the television may be entertaining and remarkable, however, they certainly do not replace a thinking brain!