The Partnership for 21st Century Skills is an organization that incorporates education leaders, business leaders and policy makers working together to outline the skills needed for our students to be successful in the ever changing workforce. The companies involved in this organization are diverse and range from the Walt Disney Company to the Ford Company.
Many of the "essential" skills listed by this organization are the core subjects that have been traditionally taught in schools things like: math, science, world languages, art etc. Along with the traditional core subjects are skills such as global awareness, civic literacy etc.
I think having an organization that works as a bridge from school life to career life is a great thing. I truly think that combining technology and interdisciplinary learning to our lesson plans is a must. Our students need to be more globally aware, be able to work with others, learn to be critical thinkers and, be self motivated. Out of all these my concern is the motivation which I feel comes from within.
How do you motivate a high school student?
Here is the web site for The Partnership for 21st Century Skills:
http://www.21stcenturyskills.org/index.php
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How to motivate students is a great question. I am constantly trying to tailor my assignments to student interests so they are more motivated to do them. I think when it come to the students being lazy there is not much we can do. I have tried everything I can think of with certain students even lowering the requirements so they turn something in but still this has not worked with the students I really struggle with. What is the answer? If other teacher have ideas I would love to hear them!
ReplyDeleteI think motivation is indeed the essential question. I also find myself bribing students, lowering expectations, etc. I also have found that because of the many demands on us and our time that I have (unfortunately) begun to focus more attention on those who do show more motivation to learn. I can't let the 5-6 students who aren't going to do anything anyway drag down the others. I have had a little more success with doing things that lead to peer publishing/review because they feel more interest and desire to do something and do it well if they know their peers are going to see it/rate it. I've also tried to make things as relevant as possible, even if they don't see the individual grammar/vocab as relevant, I try to get them to use it in a meaningful way.
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ReplyDeleteMy only concern is mixing corporations with education. Corporations can be heartless at times. They cut jobs to help their bottom lines. I worry about education being swayed from the cool ideas I learned about when I was in school to the corporate world ways. What about all those other jobs out there that don't have anything to do with the corporate business world? I wonder if these corporations want to cultivate our youth so they can hand pick the best students and cast the others aside. I worry about the future message we are sending kids. I understand there should be a partnership, but over education as a whole makes me worry a little bit. Thanks for your post! It really made me think.
How to motivate a student? I think that students want relevance. They always ask why do I need to learn this. Well I think that if you are incorporating these skills into your lessons, and you explain why you have added these elements, then the students will feel that there is a purpose for their time and work. I think that a lot of students would appreciate knowing that they are learning/practicing skills that fortune 500 companies want in their employees.
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