Professional blog | 21st Century Educator Listen to the two songs linked below, and ask yourself, is this the message we should be sending our children? After the horrible rape case in the now infamous town of Steubenville, I have been thinking about what could possibly have made this act seem justified by the boys who committed it, and although I do not think we can lay all of the blame on popular media, as it is a reflection of our culture, some of the blame must lie there. I listened to this song, at the request of my son, and I was quickly horrified. I remember the moment that opened my mind, and started me thinking about music more critically. My friend and I were walking from Koerner Library to the Student Union building on UBC campus, as part of our weekly Safewalk shift, and I started to hum, and then sing. I certainly know that young children, like my son, are especially unlikely to think critically about music. I would like my son, and all other boys, to grow up to be men of which we can be proud.
Information Fluency Information Fluency According to Danny Callison, information fluency is the ability to apply the skills associated with information literacy, computer literacy and critical thinking to address and solve information problems across disciplines, across academic levels, and across information format structures. According to The Associated Colleges of the South ( using critical thinking skills and appropriate technologies, information fluency integrates the abilities to: collect the information necessary to consider a problem or issue employ critical thinking skills in the evaluation and analysis of the information and its sources formulate logical conclusions and present those conclusions in an appropriate and effective way Read the article Key Word: Information Fluency (Word document) by Daniel Callison (SLMAM, in press, 2004). View Information Fluency (Real Media - 3:26). (Go to the Real website to download a free player. Understanding by Design
PSA: Please Stop Saying '21st Century Education' | Education on GOOD If you ever find yourself sitting in a meeting—or listening to a politician's speech—about education reform, it's pretty much guaranteed that you'll hear mention of how schools need to ensure kids are "21st century learners," who are acquiring "21st century skills," in a "21st century classroom." But in the thirteenth year of the 21st century, what does any of this "21st century education" talk mean—and is it even happening? Last September, educator and author Grant Lichtman set out on a quest to discover the answer. In the TEDx Denver Teachers talk above, Lichtman says he discovered that instead of focusing on a rigid set of so-called 21st century skills, what educators actually need to do is "teach into the unknown" because none of us know what the future looks like. Ultimately, says Lichtman, education innovation has to be about "preparing our students for their future, not our past." Click here to add committing to 16 transformative education principles to your GOOD "to-do" list.
How Google Impacts The Way Students Think How Google Impacts The Way Students Think by Terry Heick It’s always revealing to watch learners research. Why do people migrate? Where does inspiration come from? How do different cultures view humanity differently? Literally Google it. And you see knowledge as searchable, even though that’s not how it works. 1. Google is powerful, the result of a complicated algorithm that attempts to index human thought that has been digitally manifest. The result? 2. When students are looking for an “answer,” good fortune sees them arrive at whatever they think they’re looking for, where they can (hopefully) evaluate the quality and relevance of the information, cite their source, and be on their merry way. But with the cold logistics of software, having come what they were looking for, learners are left with the back-button, a link on the page they’re on, or a fresh browser tab. Having found an “answer,” rabid-Googlers are ready to “finish” the assignment. 3. Especially those that seem conflicting.
Math, PBL and 21st Century Learning for All Students Considering project-based learning as a way to teach 21st century competencies? Or perhaps you have already used PBL in your schools and want support for your discussions with administrators, parents or board members? In either case, it might be helpful to know about the strong research evidence that PBL, when supported by good professional development, can in turn support the teaching and learning of 21st century skills significantly better than more traditional alternatives. Sometimes skeptics will argue that for certain subjects (e.g., math) or some types of students (e.g., lower performers) are harder to teach using PBL. Math teachers and teachers of lower-performing students do have unique challenges for teaching 21st century skills. Here are two more videos showing students using math while conducting projects, working in groups to create original products or presentations. Evidence from West Virginia Let's look at the data. Suggested Resources
Information Fluency | iTeachU Information Fluency is a three-part lens for assessing student understanding. The information fluency triad includes domain knowledge, critical thinking, and presentation and participation — three components of learning that work together to develop and confirm students’ understanding of the subject of your course. Domain knowledge is the specialized information about your field of expertise that you as a scholar have gathered over time through research, collaboration, and experience. Students who do not exhibit an ability to work the subject of your course into and between each of the three spheres of the information fluency triad may be portraying their incomplete understanding of your subject.
How To Prepare Students For 21st Century Survival 7 Skills Students Will Always Need by Jennifer Rita Nichols Ed note: This post has been updated from a 2013 post. As educators, we constantly strive to prepare our students for the ‘real world’ that exists around them. We teach them how to read, write, and calculate. Then, of course, there are the less tangible skills we teach; such as how to work in a team, think critically, and be curious about the things they encounter each day. We want to prepare them to lead productive and successful lives once they leave us and enter into the realm of adulthood. Tony Wagner of Harvard University worked to uncover the 7 survival skills required for the 21st century. We may not know exactly what lies ahead for our students in the future, but we have the advantage of knowing what skills they will need once they get there. Skills #1: Critical Thinking and Problem SolvingPreparation: Students will need to develop their skills at seeing problems from different angles and formulating their own solutions.
Digital Literacy vs. Digital Fluency Update 6/13/2012: We finally finished our book on this topic. It is available in print here, and in Kindle format here. You can also download a sample chapter here: here (601k PDF) Literacy and fluency* have to do with our ability to use a technology to achieve a desired outcome in a situation using the technologies that are available to us. ..and it applies to our ability to use digital technologies to have the intended positive effect on people and situations: Note that a literate person is perfectly capable of using the tools. *For the sake of simplicity, we have boiled all of this down to three levels of skill, and have given them what we think are easy-to-understand names. Related Posts:
10 Techy Icebreakers for The 21st Century Teacher Here are some great icebreakers you can work on using technology : 1- Self PortraitHave your students draw themselves. After they have done this, collect the papers and hang them up for the whole class to see. Now have students try to guess who the artists was for each picture. 2- Video/ audio introductions Encourage students to record a short video clip in which they introduce themselves to their peers. The teacher generates a list of words related to a topic to be taught. 5- Prior Knowledge check Giving multiple choice tests or true and false quizzes before introducing a topic or reading engages students, activates a student’s prior knowledge, and will encourage the sharing of information and resources. 6- Personalize it Teacher writes the topic to be taught on the board and then talks about how the topic relates to them by using a personal reference or story.
Four stages of competence - Wikipedia From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Psychological states when gaining a skill In psychology, the four stages of competence, or the "conscious competence" learning model, relates to the psychological states involved in the process of progressing from incompetence to competence in a skill. People may have several skills, some unrelated to each other, and each skill will typically be at one of the stages at a given time. Many skills require practice to remain at a high level of competence. The four stages suggest that individuals are initially unaware of how little they know, or unconscious of their incompetence. History[edit] Several elements, including helping someone "know what they don't know" or recognize a blind spot, can be compared to elements of a Johari window, which was created in 1955, although Johari deals with self-awareness, while the four stages of competence deal with learning stages. Stages[edit] The four stages are: See also[edit] References[edit] Further reading[edit]
36 Things Every 21st Century Teacher Should Be Able To Do What should every teacher in the 21st century know and be able to do? That’s an interesting question. After just now seeing this excellent post on educatorstechnology.com, I thought I’d contribute to the conversation. I added the twist of ranking them from least complex to most complex, so novices can start at the bottom, and you veterans out there can skip right to 36. 36 Things Every 21st Century Teacher Should Be Able To Do 1. Whether you choose a text message, email, social media message, Skype session, or a Google+ Hangouts depends on who you need to communicate with and why—purpose and audience. 2. Email won’t always work. 3. Hit the Print Screen button near your number pad on a keyboard on Windows. 4. Know what it means to be Rick Roll’d, the difference between a fail and an epic fail, why Steve is a scumbag, and who sad Keannu is. 5. Not everyone loves technology. An RT as an olive branch. 6. 7. Tone is lost when you type. 8. This is dead-simple, but you never know. 9. 10. 11. 12.