21st Century Skills

Why do students need 21st century skills?
Every child in American needs 21st century knowledge and skills to succeed as effective citizens, workers and leaders in the 21st century. There is a profound gap between the knowledge and skills most students learn in school and the knowledge and skills they need in typical 21st century communities and workplaces. To successfully face rigorous higher education coursework, career challenges and a globally competitive workforce, U.S. schools must align classroom environments with real world environments by infusing 21st century skills into their teaching and learning.

-Partnership for 21st Century Skills

As an educator, I take this statement to heart. I understand that my role as a kindergarten teacher is to lay the foundation for the development of the necessary skills my students will need to be successful as they enter the workforce in about 15 years. The 21st Century Skills must be vital components in the education of every child in America if we hope to produce productive, successful individuals ready to enter the global workforce. The website of the Partnership for 21st Century Skills at http://www.21stcenturyskills.org/ is a useful site for familiarizing yourself with the mission, resources, and basics of 21st Century Skills. Be sure view the skills framework and student outcomes for vital information on the skills.

I was quite surprised by how many of the P21 partners are kid-oriented, such as Scholastic, Lego, Sesame Workshop, and Disney, and quite disappointed in the fact that so little of the information on the site pertains to working with young students. While it’s true that the 21st Century skills must be honed in higher grades, they must be introduced from the very beginning. More information on how to better teach and implement the skills would be welcome and very useful.

How, as a kindergarten teacher, can I be sure that I am introducing 21st Century Skills in a way that conveys to my students how important these skills are? How hard should I push my students into thinking more critically, problem solving, and communicating complexly? What is considered developmentally appropriate in teaching these skills to young students?

Blogs in Kindergarten?

I love the idea of using blogs in the classroom to enhance lessons and increase student engagement and learning. However, I’m having a difficult time thinking of ways that I might utilize a blog with my group of kindergarten students. Children at this level are only learning computer basics and cannot read and write well enough to use blogging. I would love some ideas and suggestions!

My only thought for using blogs in my classroom is I might partner up with my fifth grade reading buddies and sixth grade science buddies to use a blog to respond to one another and the lessons we work on together. I would work with my students as a class to post a blog topic based on our unit themes, and our buddies would respond by giving information or sharing stories to help expand the learning of my students on specific topics based on our state standards. I would hope that my students would be able to pick up more knowledge than I would otherwise be able to teach alone, and our older buddies would gain a sense of ownership and expertise on our topics through teaching concepts themselves.

I already have a plan in place to do this type of activity with paper and pencil, but I believe that a blog might be a better tool for allowing “anytime, anywhere learning.” Plus, with paper and pencil, students will only collaborate with one or two other students. Through the use of a blog, the entire class would be able to collaborate with one another at all times.

Full-Day Kindergarten vs. Half-Day Kindergarten

My school is in the process of moving from a half-day kindergarten program to a full-day kindergarten program. With states requiring more and more from teachers and students, full-day kindergarten seems to be the best (and only) option. In terms of curriculum, I have plenty of ideas and my lesson plans are full. But I worry about the effect that my state's strict requirements will have on my young students. Can kindergarten students physically and mentally handle the demands of a full-day kindergarten program? Or are half-day programs more developmentally appropriate for our youngest students? Any suggestions for dealing with a full-day program in terms of scheduling, routines, and expectations are welcome.