Profiling the Students of Today

http://jbluton8.podbean.com/

Partnership for 21st century skills
The speed of technology is changing rapidly. The reaction I have about the website on Partnership for 21st century skills was a reality check. Today's educator's need to be more prepared, flexible, knowledgeable and able to multitask. There is a greater need for strong cognitive skills and analytical skills. Educators need to prepare themselves for the rapid changes that are taking place in the classroom. The information that I read was not surprising. The information on the website confirmed what I already perceived about integrating technology in the classroom. I need to prepare myself for the challenges that will take place using 21st century skills. It reinforces my belief that you can never stop learning. Educators must keep an open mind to change. What is useful knowledge today may be of little use in a short period of time. Educators must be aware that students need to be well prepared in both the classroom and in the workforce. Technological has allowed a smaller workforce to create a higher production capacity.

I would like to integrate a blog into my classroom. The purpose of the blog is to have a place where the students can view, comment and reply to others about their content area. I'd like to share some things I have experienced since I began the virtual classes at my school. The students are excited about being able to do their coursework on the computers. I have exhausted myself monitoring each student to stay on track. Some of my students began to drift away from the curriculum and began to navigate to other websites. This has become very annoying. I did a survey with my students about blogging. Like myself they were unfamiliar about how to get started. I mentioned to my students that Facebook, My Space, Twitter are blogs. I want to learn how to use the blog correctly before I assign students to create a blog. I think they would enjoy interacting with others about their content. I also think that it would cut down on students drifting away from their content navigating to other sites. I think it can enhance the lesson because they are reading comments from their peers.

Using technology in the classroom seem to motivate students to actively engage in the curriculum. This generation of students are technologically advanced. The early exposure to cyberspace has produced, in my opinion a generation of students that are competent in this environment. After teaching in a traditional environment for the past eleven years, I obtained a teaching position at a virtual school. I was excited to begin the new school year in a new environment. I had very little training with the program. I'm learning day-to-day and feeling more competetent with my instruction.