Quick Think - Standards and 21st Century Skills

As I finish this week's goal on examining standards and 21st century skills, a few things come to mind. One, there are multiple organizations that discuss standards and 21st century skills; however each organizations has the same concept! Despite a few differences in terminology, all the concepts are interconnected. This is definitely proved when the Colorado Department of Education decided to use the same national standards that ISTE created. I also like the idea that ISTE's NETS are designed for students as well as for teachers. Through this research, I definitely gained some knowledge and framework to use as I create curricula for my own classroom.

NETS' teacher standard that discussed: "Engage in Professional Growth & Leadership" really hit a home cord with me. As I transition from being a "younger" teacher to a more "experienced" teacher, I've noticed that I've become lazy in lesson planning. It is easy to use the same lesson plans that I created in previous years, but I shouldn't do this as much as I have in the past. As the digital era becomes fully included into the education world, it is my responsibility to stay current in my lesson plans. So, creating lessons to include more technology such as blogs and iPad apps will help with this. As I discover these new concepts, it is also vital for me to share this information with my colleagues. This way all students are able to receive an effective learning experience!

Along with the technology standards, the 21st century skills are just as important. During my research, I was able to visualize the interconnection between the two. For example, 21st Century Skills uses the term: Inventive Thinking, while the NETS' standards uses the term: Creativity and Innovation. Both concepts mean the same thing! Being a science teacher, I have the opportunity to be creative in my lesson plans on a daily basis. The key to learning science is inquiry!

Now, that I've become knowledgeable of standards and 21st century sills and their interconnections, I can teach this to other educators.

Matrix to Standards & 21st Century Skills

Resources:

21^st Century Skills. Colorado Department of Education. (n.d.) Retrieved from http://www.cde.state.co.us/cdelib/LibraryDevelopment/SchoolLibraries/downloads/pdf/21stCenturySkillsSymposiumFlyer.pdf

Aect advanced standards. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.aect.org/standards/advstand.html

Aect initial standards. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.aect.org/standards/initstand.html

Colorado department of education. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.cde.state.co.us/cdeassess/UAS/CoAcademicStandards.html

Education technology and information literacy. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.cde.state.co.us/edtech/plng-etil.htm

Kelley, A. (2011, March 23). Involve, prepare, apply, and develop: ipads in the classroom . Retrieved from http://www.techlearning.com/article/involve-prepare-apply-and-develop-ipads-in-the-classroom/47763

Lawson, E. (2011, March 28). ipads, ipod touches, and iphones as assistive technology in education. Retrieved from http://www.techlearning.com/article/ipads-ipod-touches-and-iphones-as-assistive-technology-in-education/47768

NETS ISTE Standards for students. (2007). Retrieved from http://www.iste.org/standards/nets-for-students.aspx

NETS ISTE Standards for teachers. (2008). Retrieved from http://www.iste.org/standards/nets-for-teachers/nets-for-teachers-2008.aspx

Stem education coalition. (2011, September 6). Retrieved from http://www.stemedcoalition.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/STEM-Ed-Coalition-One-Pager-9-6-11.pdf

The three principles of uld . (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.udlcenter.org/aboutudl/whatisudl/3principles

Udl guidelines - version 2.0: Examples and resources. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.udlcenter.org/implementation/examples

What is universal design for learning?. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.cast.org/udl/index.html