Module Eight: 21st Century Assessment

Workforce Development: Every Teacher's Responsibility
Developing a workforce for the 21st Century is truly a challenge--what a pleasure having taken this class at this point in my career to learn better ways to connect with students--to develop their skills for the 21st Century. As I worked through the modules for 21st Century I enjoyed learning about Web 2.0 tools, blogging, del.icio.us and tagging. I develop a lot of projects so I enjoyed learning about the Big6 problem solving model and am so impressed with the resources and information that were included in each module. I did my best to do most of the reading and enjoyed the variety of educational materials whether movies, charts, or PowerPoints.

I would like to try blogging in my classes and will need to work with our technology person to see what I may or may not be able to do. I think that students need to be able to present a viewpoint and support that view with detailed information. Blogging is one way to build that skill. Other activities that I am trying to incorporate and practice are using "discrepent events" to encourage thought and using different questioning techniques. I even posted the words Who, Why, What, How, and To What Extent in the front of the classroom so that I have constant reminders to start my questions with these words to encourage higher level thinking and discussion.

I enjoyed reviewing essential questions, developing a project, and designing a rubric. I try to use projects as much as possible in the information and technology area to encourage students to relate their learning to life experiences. I had previously taken a class through our local Wisconsin CESA and learned to use project-based learning as a way to motivate students. I thought the module on developing essential questions was more specific than my previous training, and I enjoyed building upon what I already know about PBL.

If I had the opportunity to do this course again, I would like to spend more time reading information at different websites visited. I came across so many interesting links to websites that I would like to revisit and I was able to make good use of del.icio.us. I am absolutely thrilled to have learned about this Web 2.0 tool.

I would definitely recommend this course to all teachers who want to find a way to connect with learners in the 21st Century.