Group items tagged

"My official title at school is "21st Century Learning Specialist". My work focuses on bringing 21st Century skills and literacies to educators and students. I know…I know… many of you don't like the term "21st Century Something"."

" Part I of Using Social Bookmarking in Schools and with your Students attempted to point out the skills and literacies involved and required when using social bookmarking tools to its full potential. I looked at the revised Bloom's Taxonomy as well as 21st century skills to see where social bookmarking fit in."

"I found the following video in my Reader today from The Innovative Educator. I will be saving the video for future PD opportunities."

"I have been dying to share this project with all of you, but I have been holding off until we have completed the unit (well almost…). There seem to be more and more opportunities popping up for our 5th grader to continue learning and connecting their knowledge about Christopher Columbus… Take a listen to the students' "CC Newscast" video and then read on about the "upgrade" process from textbook to globally connected learning!"

"I believe we are on our way of taking a modern classroom learning opportunity and upgrading assessment forms to match new skills and new literacies while not forgetting traditionally assessed ones. We took a classroom Twitter feed (Part One) , looked at the conversation skills students exhibited during the Skype call (Part Two) and now are moving on to looking at "blog post writing" as assessment. Keeping a previously created blogging rubric in mind, we took a closer look at the blog posts written by the 4th and 5th graders during the actual skype call and edited and formatted after the call had ended."

"Teaching ourselves, our students and other educators how to use screenshooting (images) and screencasting (video) tools is a relevant skill to have that integrates in so many areas. Think Tutorial Designers (A role from the Digital Learning Farm) or the Flipped Classroom model. Being able to create, share and take advantage of readily available screencasts touch upon so many of the skills (create, communicate) and literacies (network, media, information literacy)."

"My children (16, 18, 20) are writing more and more. Their friends do too… Probably not in the way some of you can imagine… nor think of as writing…but nonetheless they are writing. They are texting… 8000 texts (per month) sent and received… Can you imagine probably 5-10 words on average per text…40,000 -80,000 words per month: A collaborative monthly story of their lives in WRITING!"

"Getting an entire school on board with a digital communication platform aka classroom blog is a PROCESS. A (baby) step by (baby) step process… As the interaction between teachers, school, students, parent and global community increases, so does the need for other "little" pieces of 21st century literacies. "

"At the beginning of most calendar years, especially at the beginning of a new decade, century or millennium, we tend to take a closer look at our past and future than perhaps at other times. In the past few weeks I came across the following two articles:"

"No lesson, no event and no learning should stand alone. We connect what we learn with our experiences of the past and store newly acquired skills, facts and experience to be retrieved in the future. Previously, I wrote about framing a field trip with Google Earth. I try to make the case of the importance to allowing students to learn to make connections, to not just expose them to a learning experience without pre-knowledge activation and reflection "to put things in perspective" to follow."

"There is something about doodling…illustrating… as you are listening to, absorbing and reflecting about content or an experience. I have questions…? Does doodling calm a mind, that is constantly bouncing of its walls? Does doodling help one focus on auditory material? Can doodling help clarify content? Does doodling only work for the artistically inclined? (What if I can't draw?) Is doodling only beneficial for the visual learner?"

"In my previous post titled Enhancement-Automating-Transforming-Informating, I described the fusion (in my mind) of the SAMR model with Alan November's concept of Automating vs. Informating to transform teaching and learning."

"Helping students become quality Tutorial Designers has been on my mind and agenda lately. The reasons are plentiful, from the train of thought "if you can teach it, you know it", being a vital skill in the 21st century, Alan November's work "Who owns the Learning?"/ "Digital Learning Farm" to tutorials being an important piece in the self-motivated and self-directed learning of our times."

"I am borrowing the notion of the Leitmotif, a recurring theme, and applying it to learning in the 21st century. For me it always seems to come back to a red thread of self-motivated and self-directed learning that connects all."

"Our second grade teacher, Ms.S., was ready to "upgrade" a traditionally taught unit on reptiles. We met to discuss how she could incorporate the 5 C's of 21st century skills as well as support new emerging literacies. The basic idea was to upgrade a typical report, using books from the library to research and fill out a "research" template on a piece of paper."

"The school I work for alternates every year between a Science Fair and a Jewish History Fair exhibition. Students are to research and create a project for the respective subjects. This year the school prepared for the Jewish History Fair. The sixth graders wanted to explore the theme "Jewish Communities Around the World. "

"Geography should an integral part of EVERY subject area. It is a vital 21st Century skill to be able to connect and collaborate with people from around the world. The study of Geography is a springboard to Global Awareness."

"As I discussed in a previous post What is…will be obsolete in Second Grade?, I am taking a closer look at student jobs and responsibilities in the classroom in relationship to 21st century skills, literacies and "The Digital Learning Farm", a term coined by Alan November."

"I have been intrigued with the relationship of being skilled, literate and fluent in the Digital World for a while. We are focusing at school to look through the lens of fluency using technology as tools (e.g. using the iPad as the device and apps as the tool to achieve fluency), not as the end. I am wondering if the word "fluency" in the digital world, sparks the same thoughts or activates the background definition in other educators? I have heard others in the edubloggersphere use the word "workflow" instead of "fluency"."

"Humanities teacher, Shannon Hancock, at Graded, the American School of São Paulo, read and worked through The Alchemist by Paulo Coehlo with her 8th grade students. Not only did they read the text, learn about literary elements, but also learned to articulate and discuss in a professional manner the text with their peers. Shannon chose to use the Socratic Method, specifically a Socratic Seminar (Inner/Outer Circle Fishbowl) to hand the learning over to her students. She stressed to them: " Educators don't need to have all the answers, it is about asking the right questions.""