21st Century Skill Portfolios

So, last night I work up and could not get back to sleep... a common occurrence and a chance to do some thinking about kids and computers and teaching.

This year, I will be teaching 5th grade in a poorly planned initiative... basically they needed another teacher to share the kids, the school received netbooks as part of a one-to-one initiative (another poorly managed project), and the idea was "Ackerman will show them ho to use the netbooks." (That's the extent of the planning as it appeared in the school board minutes.)

To me this seems a great opportunity to try something new as no one has any expectations-- that is an environment in which I can shine!

So here is my idea... I am going to have students create electronic portfolios organized around the 21st Century Skills. But as I thought about it, I realized that I cannot simply have my students jump through the hoops through which the Partnerships for 21st Century Skills folks want them to jump. My students need to look at those skills, internalize them and then decide first if they are worth knowing and then second decide how they have demonstrated the skills.