Review of the Partnership for 21st Century Skills website

As I navigated this site, I realized that the push for technology is not limited to just one sector of society, but is being endorsed by educators, business leaders and others. I liked the fact that the website is supported by various businesses and by NEA, of which I'm a member. The collaboration between the business world and educators will be helpful in guiding teachers in their attempts to prepare students for their futures. One of President Obama's goals for education is to increase the reach of technology into all schools, so the timing is right for educators to embrace these forward steps. A daunting problem for our country is dealing with the large disparity between schools in terms of available resources and technological tools.

I was surprised and concerned to read that Bill Gates characterized American education as being outdated. We tend to think we're the best in every aspect, so his observation was sobering. I teach math and was interested in the different way that Japanese students study math. They concentrate on 4 or 5 concepts a year, studying them in depth. Based on my state guidelines, I teach 2 or 3 small, specific concepts a week. I try to tie them all together into a comprehensive application, but the time table, data chats and mandated testing require that I concentrate on emphasizing the basics. Somehow this is not working. I have many students who don't know their multiplication tables, how to deal with fractions or how to take percent even though they have been taught these items since elementary school.

I have not read much about Howard Gardner's theory of multiple intelligences, but I disagree with expanding the word intelligence to include skills and abilities such as sports, craftsmanship and performing arts. I certainly value those abilities and the people possessing those skills and I think society is enriched by such variety. However, I don't think all people are equally intelligent. I don't think that has anything to do with their value or worth. I also realize that, often, a student's grades do not reflect his/her intelligence or abilities. The problem is in assessing an individual's intelligence and we do need to be careful that we don't make assumptions there. However, I still maintain that some people are just more intelligent than others. Albert Einstein, Marie Curie, and Isaac Newton were more intelligent than the average person.

The rapidly changing field of technology has to play a part in education. Because the tools of technology are constantly being upgraded, we have to find ways to teach students how to think and problem solve creatively with the technology available in our school. At the same time we have to prepare them for dealing with the future options. The good news is that most students are comfortable with and open to the amazing possibilities. I am the one who has to catch up and use my knowledge and experience to guide them in the ethical, productive and rewarding use of these technologies.

Use of a blog in my class

I teach high school algebra and geometry. The use of a blog for my classes would be to present extras such as additional examples, extra credit opportunities, greater depth coverage of topics we only have time to mention in class and puzzles. I could also post open-ended questions which students could respond and contribute to. I generally over plan for my classes and then have to leave out the extras. The blog would be a way to offer the beyond the curriculum information to interested students. An example of this occurred this week. I had the students generate Pascal's triangle and used it to produce the Fibonacci Series. It took longer than I wanted, so we had to leave out the golden ratio in nature discussion. This could be on the blog and the students could discuss on their own.

My First Blog Post

After much surfing and fiddling I finally got my blog up and running! yay.