P21: 21st Century Learning Part One

I found the website to be very informative.  I must admit that I have visited this site before ( a months ago) but did not perused it in detailed as I have just recently done.

I found this visual representation of the skills students ought to have and the support systems to be very important and enlightening.  Yes! I believe that  learning is maximized when supported in the different areas from teacher involvement, planning, assessment, school culture, climate and students' attitude.
One of the skills that stood out to me was flexibility and adaptability.  I agree that this is an extremely important skill students need to develop and it would be very useful in their world of work.  As a second grade teacher, I often find myself being flexible in the class.  Some weeks ago my students forgot the materials I requested a week prior in email to parents and I had to adjust my lesson quite a bit without losing focus of the content and the objectives.  It took a few minutes to regain focus but when the class resume , I explained to my kids that sometimes things do not go as plan and we  have to go to plan B.  I smiled just yesterday when I forgot my materials, the students asked if I don't  have my plan B.  I believe that due to the explanation, the students are aware that things can change on the spur of the moment and we must try our utmost best to readjust without losing focus.

Another key point that I agree with is  assessment.  As we prepare 21st century minds, we must assess using different methods.
Assessment is a crucial part of any educational institution.  It is where I evaluate my performance and use of instructional strategies as well as my students’ performance. Research has indicated that using variety evaluation methods is best as students learn differently. ICT Assessment can determine the depth of instructions and the amount of knowledge gained or reinforced by students. ICT assessment allows for timely feedback and analyses of items.  Quite often this instantaneous feedback provides the opportunity for students to address any misconceptions that may have occurred. When the students are involved in this process, a good classroom culture and climate is developed. This would lead to a change in their self-esteem and overall performance. In essence, when students receive constant and instantaneous feedback about their performance academically and socially, their positive self-perceptions is increased.  
The resources and tools link allowed for some additional reading.  The blog written on August 26th, 2013 by Arthur L Costa entitled "Is there an assessment gap?" shed  some light on the new paradigm of assessment. I strongly believe that self assessment is crucial.  It provides the opportunity for students to reflect and differentiate quality of work they produce enabling them to selection what is improved, best or acceptable. 

P12: 21st Century Learning Part Two ....coming soon......

Costa, A. and Kallick. B.  (2014 In Press) Dispositions: Reframing Learning.  Thousand Oaks, CA Corwin Press 
 
http://www.p21.org/