Living in the 21st Century I I

For Week 4 Application I have been asked to review the website: Partnerships for the 21st Century Skills. In reviewing and navigating through the site I felt as though this was the evidence I needed to show my collegues the whole spectrum of preparing our student for the 21st century and what it actually means. My favorite thing is the diagram that graphically lays out what the 21st Century skils looks like in an overall educational perspective. The one aspect that I liked most reading about was the Life Skills aspect the first point was on Flexibility and Adaptability. It is so vital that students of tis day and age realize the need to be flexible and adaptable because the world of teachnology is ever changing rapidly. If there is one thing my students need to know is basic essential skills to search out what is new and be able to read about it, view in video form, talk about it, and pick it up quickly so they stay fresh on what is out there and up and coming.

Blogging

I am doing my Masters in the Science of Education with an emphasis on Integrating technology in the classroom. I am currently learning about blogging. I have kind of already taken a course in technology in my undergraduate work that taught me how to blog. But in this course we will be covering more than just blogging. So anyways my assignment is to:
       1. Spend some time playing with your blog space to see what is possible and familiarize yourself with the features available. Consider what types of activities that you could use your blog for that are specific to the subject and grade level that you currently teach.
       2. Post an idea for how you might use a blog in your classroom. What purpose would the blog serve? Is it a place for students to interact about content? Is it a showcase for their work? Is it a place to share learning with the larger community? How does using a blog enhance the lesson? Include your grade level, content area, and your rationale as to why a blog is a good tool for the instructional context.
In thinking about the task I have been given I feel a blog is a place to showcase your thoughts and express yourself.  I would use it primarily as a tool to communicate with parents and to showcase students work or things that my students are learning or have done. I would almost treat it as a Newsletter. As far as instructional context I can easily assign homework and have students go to the blog to access links that I have set up for them to practice addition on a math link or have the list o vocab words that my students will be responsible for writing and using in a sentence for Language Arts homework. There is so many things I can do. In doing this assignment I have really got myself to really see endless possibilities of what I can do to enhance my teaching practices.
Here is a link to a blog I commented on...this is one of my classmates blog:http://kheinemann.edublogs.org/2011/05/10/blogs-in-the-classroom/comment-page-1/#comment-6