After reading the articles posted, I find it easy to agree with both sides of the argument. However, if I were to pick a side, I would say that I do not see a problem with incorporating 21st century skills into the classroom. Though I do not agree that these skills should be created by corporations or only used as a basis to be better than other states, countries, counties, etc. I think that it is important for students to be learning the “core skills” but also to be exposed to different ideas involving technology and higher-order thinking.

I think that acts such as No Child Left Behind have created such an emphasis on high-stakes testing that some classrooms may focus so much on having students memorize content for the tests, and may steer away from anything that may not necessarily be on the test. Unfortunately, this can also steer away from activities that may involve critical thinking or use of technology. I acknowledge that it is important for students to learn the “standards of learning” but it is also important for students to be able to relate concepts to real life and be able to take more away from a lesson than just “I am going to memorize this for the test and then probably forget it once the test is over”.

In reading the articles, I note that Colette Cairns, in the 21st Century Skills article, describes the process of integrating technology into lessons, using Skype and Google Maps, and how this led to previously unmotivated students getting excited about learning and spending extra time working on projects. I think this is inspiring and a good example of how the 21st century skills approach can work well.

I found these articles interesting and plan to read more on the subject.

I found a video on YouTube that I liked, it is about recycling. I thought it was a good video because it shows the process of how aluminum cans are processed and recycled, which is something I would not be able to show myself in the classroom. I would use this during a lesson about recycling, possibly as an introduction.

I edited a few parts out of the video, such as a line that said “ponder this fact over a beer with a friend” because I didn’t think that would be appropriate. I also edited a few other scenes to make the video shorter.

Recycling

When I upload it, it comes up as a link. But, it is working when I click on it, it just opens the video in a different window.  Also, if you would like to view the video in it’s  entirety, click here.

I found the following photo that I would use in class:

My idea is to use this as a creative writing exercise for upper-level Elementary students, possibly 4th or 5th grade. I would display the image and ask students to write down as many adjectives as they can within a certain time frame. Then, I would ask them to write a haiku using the adjectives and the image as inspiration.

This image was found on Flickr and is created by kurdistan kurde.

While checking out Slideshare I found lots of interesting presentations, especially in the “design” category. However, I would like to share this one with you, as an example of a good presentation.

There are several good presentation qualities I found with this one:

1.  The slide show is mostly images, and does not make sense without actually hearing the presentation. We learned in class that the best presentations should not simply do the job the speaker does, by listing the same text the presenter is reading.

2. There are some slides with text, but only a few, so it’s not overwhelming.

3. Not only are there many, many, images, most of them are interesting or unusual. Since the title of the presentation is “Visual Impact” I would assume that’s what the creator was going for, but I also think it makes for better odds of the audience not getting bored. I really liked the sequence of logos from HBO, CBS, and FedEx, which show a different way to look at the logo.

Below you will find some RSS feeds I subsribe to, both professional and for fun. Enjoy!

Professional:

Richmond Times Dispatch: Local news, good way to keep up with what is going on in Education in Richmond.

About.com Guide to Elementary Education: I really like this site because it has a lot of topics and suggestions written by actual teachers.  Lots of helpful hints for new classroom activities, teaching interviews, job sharing, etc.

Washington Post Education News: Great for news articles about things happening in the Education world in the Virginia/DC Area.

Learning Now: This is from PBS Teachers. You can search for articles/opinions based on grade level and subject. Includes lesson plans and interactive activities.

CNN: I think we all know what CNN is.

Just for Fun:

Women’s Health Magazine: I subscribe to the actual print version of this magazine and I enjoy it. Their RSS feed has daily tips and articles. I am interested in health and fitness so I like this kind of information.

E!: The Entertainment News channel. I enjoy celebrity gossip and this is a good place to go for it!

Bye Bye, Pie!: This is one of the very few journal-type blogs I read. It started a few years ago as a blog about not spending any money on anything new for a year, and then turned into a (attempted) healthy eating blog. Now the author just writes about day-to-day events, but her writing style is hilarious.

Jennsylvania: This is author Jen Lancaster’s blog. I looove her books and her blog is really funny too! In addition to random, amusing posts, she gives information about upcoming books and tours.

Epicurious: Great cooking website. I love cooking and they have an excellent selection of recipes from various sources. Recipes typically have helpful user reviews.

I have watched videos and looked at the websites regarding presentation design and have found some important factors that make for a successful and hopefully entertaining presentation:

1. Use lots of photos. The use of photos, particularly strange or interesting ones, can really engage an audience and get them thinking. A great photo can be a good opening to a presentation, or can set the tone of the entire presentation. Also, photos are much more visually stimulating that filling slides with text.
2. Keep text and bullet-points to a minimum. There is no point to filling a slide with words from a text book or filling it with the exact words that are coming out of the presenter’s mouth. The audience does not want to read all of the text, especially if it is small or in a color/font that is difficult to see. Also, the audience does not want to be read to. It is better to keep text to a minimum, and use more interesting things such as pictures or video on the slides.
3. Set a limit. People can only focus on so much at a given time, so keep the information on each slide simple. Do not try to overload the presentation with too much information. Also, make a change every few minutes to keep the audience engaged. Maybe start with a story, then move to slides with images and text, then after a few minutes, switch to an interactive activity or a video. A presentation that has identical slides and the presentation talking on and on will probably not be interesting to the audience and much of the material will probably not be absorbed.
   

Clearly, there are several ways presentations can be made better by design, but these are just some of the main ideas I got from the sources that were suggested.