21st century skills: Global competence
Submitted by schoolboardblog... on April 30, 2008 - 5:30pm
Another in the series of NSBA conference sessions relating to "21st century skills" spoke to the issue of global awareness. "Global competence" was defined as including the following: 1) knowledge of international issues; 2) the ability to work in other cultural environments; and 3) language skills other than English.
What makes global competence important is the significant share of future economic growth that will come from overseas markets, and the fact that 20% of future jobs will be tied to international trade. In addition, most of the big issues that will demand the next generation's attention have obvious global implications; solutions will require global knowledge and the ability to work cross-culturally.
So how do we go about teaching global competence? Typically, the most efficient way to help students develop these skills will be to imbed it in the curriculum that is already there. The access to global resources that technology has made possible obviously makes that another important component.
Consider the implications for world language instruction, not only of online courses - not many schools can afford to hire a Mandarin language instructor - but also of classroom-to-classroom video conferencing with sister schools in other countries. As we heard numerous times throughout the conference, we'll need to find ways to implement foreign language instruction in the elementary grades.
(Here’s a modest, but interesting idea that came out of the Teacher Inquiry Conference. Kyle Bentley used the time of the “daily opening” to teach his 2nd graders one word of Spanish per week. While that’s obviously not enough to develop fluency, it does expose the students to another language while it begins to lay a foundation for future study, without cutting into curricular time.)
Clearly, global skills would become an increasingly important component of professional development and a potential criterion in faculty hiring decisions.
Another useful free resource developed by Apple: the Learning Interchange (ali.apple.com). "Ali" is a social network for K-12 educators that has content ranging from lesson ideas to in-depth curriculum units.
What makes global competence important is the significant share of future economic growth that will come from overseas markets, and the fact that 20% of future jobs will be tied to international trade. In addition, most of the big issues that will demand the next generation's attention have obvious global implications; solutions will require global knowledge and the ability to work cross-culturally.
So how do we go about teaching global competence? Typically, the most efficient way to help students develop these skills will be to imbed it in the curriculum that is already there. The access to global resources that technology has made possible obviously makes that another important component.
Consider the implications for world language instruction, not only of online courses - not many schools can afford to hire a Mandarin language instructor - but also of classroom-to-classroom video conferencing with sister schools in other countries. As we heard numerous times throughout the conference, we'll need to find ways to implement foreign language instruction in the elementary grades.
(Here’s a modest, but interesting idea that came out of the Teacher Inquiry Conference. Kyle Bentley used the time of the “daily opening” to teach his 2nd graders one word of Spanish per week. While that’s obviously not enough to develop fluency, it does expose the students to another language while it begins to lay a foundation for future study, without cutting into curricular time.)
Clearly, global skills would become an increasingly important component of professional development and a potential criterion in faculty hiring decisions.
Another useful free resource developed by Apple: the Learning Interchange (ali.apple.com). "Ali" is a social network for K-12 educators that has content ranging from lesson ideas to in-depth curriculum units.
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Mandarin language instructors
i agree with you that not many schools can afford to hire a Mandarin language instructor, but some of our school board members seem unable to converse with parents, teachers and other members of the community in English!
Let's start there first, can we please? Answer the questions being directed at you in your native tongue.
Next generation's skills
I just came across a scary youtube video I thought you might be interested, that has some incredible statistics about how the US compares to China and India in a number of areas including education and how we're preparing our kids.
Anyone truly interested in education should take a few minutes to watch it. I hope I got it right - but here it goes.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FqfunyCeU5g
The charade continues
Is anyone else getting the sense that Mr. Hutchinson may have memory issues?
The former board has been verbally outspoken against Charter Schools as noted by their repeated and unsuccessful attempts to take on the Wonderland Charter. I believe the district has attempted to stop Wonderland's operations in court 13+ times and lost each time.
Mr. Hutchinson was a sitting member of the the board and made Young Scholars jump through hoops to get that extension to add grades forwhich he now takes credit. Parent after parent and student after student stood up and while the board did eventually approve, it was with conditions. Their disdain for charter schools is notorious and was obvious through that process.
Many charter schools are able to provide programs that SCASD can't - some kids can't make it in bigger schools, particularly at the high school. Note the increase in enrollment at Grace Prep. Parents are finding that education by warehouse isn't good for all students. Our district has a reputation of doing great things for the exceptional students on both ends of the learning spectrum but the masses in the middle get lost. That includes both academics and extra-curricular opportunities. The teachers try but the numbers are against them. The district receives money from the state for each charter school student. Maybe with the business administrator now leaving, we could get a true picture of that cost-benefit that isn't tainted by the party line.
Sorry Dave...your trip to NSBA (estimated at $8000 when you toss in the cost to send Lou Evans too) was a waste of tax dollars. Read articles, get educated about issues but we don't need to send you to DisneyWorld. We certainly don't need you to come back and rant about education principles that are in opposition to your very public behaviors.