Tuesday, December 9, 2008

21st Century Skills

In addition to the framework that was distributed during our meeting that identifies the four core areas (employability skills, financial literacy, health literacy, and technology literacy), here are some of the other key ideas that were presented at the HS Summit in Des Moines:

"Business and industry are providing a very clear message that students need the skills to work comfortably with people from other cultures, solve problems creatively, write and speak well, think in a multidisciplinary way, and evaluate information critically.  And they need to be punctual, dependable, and industrious."

"Within this 21st century skill framework are the common strands of learning and innovation; communication, information, and technology; and, life and career skills."

"The challenge is to prepare students to think critically, to engage in mental activity, or habit of mind, that...use facts to plan, order, and work toward an end; seek meaning or explanations; are self-reflective; and use reason to question claims and make judgments."

SO...
How do we meet these needs of our students in a manner that is both in the context of our discipline and relevant and beneficial to the worlds they live in?

Friday, December 5, 2008

FYI

In order to receive comments on your pages, you need to have at least one post for me (or anyone else) to respond to.
I see we already have our first follower!  Welcome Tom!

Wednesday, December 3, 2008

Welcome!

Welcome to our blog!  For starters, please create your own blog page and then join this page as a follower. That way, we can connect to and communicate with each other with ease.  You do not need to have anything fancy on your blog, but it provides a very user friendly format for sharing and viewing what we are doing in our classes.

Begin by going to "blogger.com."  Simply create an account, for free, and you are in!

I am attaching a link to my English 11 page that I currently use with my students.  You can browse through their pages by clicking on their pictures.

Play around with it.  Ask students if you have any questions.  They are your best resource.
Good luck!

Ann Lebo
GCHS