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21st Century Skills Reflection

Giving students the chance to build a better world has been the goal of educators for decades. However, in the last decade the tools that are available to our young people have grown exponentially. Technology is literally changing our world and everyday lives on a daily basis. With increased education and collaboration, students can positively impact the future health, wealth and welfare of everyone. Today's elementary students will grow up familiar and confident in the 21st century skills discussed in the book, and I don't believe we can fathom the far-reaching effects of this education. The book pointed out how standards have typically stated what a student SHOULD KNOW about subjects but the 21st century standards will emphasize what a student SHOULD BE ABLE TO DO with that content. This is a positive move and will equip tomorrow's adults to be able to apply what they have learned primarily through the use of technology and the many tools it provides. As stated, the value of combining traditional education with skills in 21st century learning lies in its "appropriate application to solving real world challenges." It is an exciting future ahead of us and our students today will play an active role in tomorrow's technological society!

Our Time, Our World

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Reflection Post

As I was reading I realized that I am not even close to where I should in technology be being a pe teacher I think technology wouldn’t even matter. I guess that I am wrong. I see the progress that is being made. I see that the things that I do and the things that need to be done are way apart. I know that pe is not a core subject but I also know that is important. Seeing in the book at technology is advancing and that I only use only a little bit of it seems to me that if the society acknowledges what is out there and it is very important to know where the knowledge comes from. There is so many examples in the book that I can quote but the only one that I am going to respond to is the example of the bike you need to know the foundation the wheels the frame and work from there. I know that pe is a need in our society that we have and that we the have the knowledge that we need to use this knowledge. After reading this book I will look at life and teaching at a whole different perspective.

21st Century Skills

21st Century Skills
This book has changed my thinking about not only how important technology is in the classroom, but how important it is to provide a high-quality teaching experience that looks at assessments, standards, and experiences of all children. Understanding just how important 21st century skills are to students make me want to work harder at providing appropriate technology activities and projects. I am excited to know that the 21st century education leaders will focus on the learning needs of each student rather than looking at the “mean” of the class. Being able to design and provide individual instruction is a better way of learning for all students. After reading this book I realized that the 21st Century skills will require more than just learning how to be connected to the world, but how to be connected to our local community as well. Our learning environments will be changing and this will require including local support and agencies. It is important to know that not only can we count on working across the globe but we can work together in a local capacity as well. Applying 21st century skills will indeed be a challenge for teaching the very young; however, it is a challenge that is greatly needed. I always did like a good challenge!

21st Century Skills

Reflection from 21st Century Skills
This book is full of ideas, thoughts and new concepts that we as teachers need to keep in mind. Technology is here to stay and is the way of the future. You may as well get on, sit down and learn all you can. As a classroom teacher of young children, I know I need to teach the basics or 3R’s-and with that incorporate technology wherever I am able to. It is also important that I encourage my students to be Responsible-to think smart- and be ready to grab every positive opportunity that comes their way.
I also believe that as a teacher it isn’t enough to teach them how to read and write-technology is ever-changing, for that we must teach our students how to be effective to access, evaluate and use information with the technology tools that are available for them.
In today’s society, teachers need to provide an environment that includes the 21st Century Skills-Collaboration, Leadership, Inquiry Based Learning, Global Awareness, Communication and Technology skills. To wrap that up-we must provide a curriculum that helps our students become well rounded productive citizens.
I thought this was interesting-“we can be globally connected with a touch of a finger!” Wow- has our society changed-I only hope it will be for the better-remember it is not technology that is bad-but how the user chooses to use it!

Reflection Post

After reading this book I am left with a feeling of urgency and also a feeling of renewed hope. I feel energized and am ready to do my part to prepare students for the challenges that they will face in the 21st century. It is a daunting task and one that will take cooperation from all stakeholders, as the book suggests, but it must be done to secure the future of all of our children. I used to be one of those teachers who would shy away from technology thinking that it was a distraction and was not a necessary tool in my content area. I now realize that I am doing my students a great disservice by not allowing them, as well as myself, to explore and create using technology. My mind has been opened to all the possibilities that exist in the world of technology and I am excited to get started.

Reflection

The first line in Chapter One of 21st Century Skills states, "we are currently preparing students for jobs that don't yet exist...using technologies that heven't yet been invented...in order to solve problems we don't even know are problems yet." I think this statement sums up what the 21st Century Skills are all about. We, as educators, need to learn from the past in order to help our future. We need to create lessons that cause students to critically think for and by themselves to be able to solve any problems they may encounter. Not only should our students be able to read, write, and apply mathematical skills, but also create answers to problems by themselves, with only guidance from the teacher. We should expect a lot out of our students, but when they are old enough to "be in the real world" there is going to be a lot that is expected of them so starting now should prepare them for success. And we also need to keep in mind that this knowledge should not come to our students naturally. These skills should be modeled, practiced, and modeled, and practiced over and over, until students become accustomed to learning and thinking with this "new" knowledge. Once students prove that they understand these skills, we should model and practice these skills once more to reinforce the importance of independence and the always-seeking-information-and-self-improvement attitude. Doing this will help ensure that students can be ready for a future where they will encounter jobs, technologies, and problems that do not exist yet.

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Section 6 Learning for Life - Building a Better World

The last section of the book summarized the ideas of 21st Century Skills changing our world. Education has always been important, but most recently has been seen "as the golden ticket to a brighter economic future." How we educate our chidren now depends on how successful they will be in the future which in turn determines how our own future will be. Section 6 reflected on our recent global recession. Stating that our tough times now is a glimpse of the future and what a lack of education can bring. Even though these times are difficult, they serve as an important lesson of what we need to fix so we can bring a bigger and better change of life. No one wants to live a life of worry, depression, struggling families, or unproductive economies. So what do we do about it?! We step up and help to make a difference! We give our children the skills necessary to secure a job and to contribute to their economy. And because all countries can benefit from these 21st Century Skills, we should share our ideas and even get more ideas from each other. If we all have the same goal in mind, and can cooperate to achieve this goal, we will be better prepared for a bright future. Students are already learning together and communicating through global networking, why can't we? "Students are already making a difference in our 21st century world." When we put effort towards providing a learning atmosphere where students can take risks and make their own discoveries, students dive into the depths of learning, instead of skimming the surface. Many teachers have discovered this, and have found that students are capable of doing much more than anyone ever thought they could! Children are natural-born problem seekers and solvers, we just need to provide them with an environment where they can practice that. As long as the problems we provide are meaningful, "there are few limits to what students will learn to help solve the problem." We need to know our students inside and out. We need to know what they love and care about so we can harness that passion to fully engage our students, and use 21st Century Skills to create meaningful and memorable knowledge that they can use to solve problems. Students should not be expected to graduate and automatically know how to do all of this, they will need lots of practice to become 21st Century Learners, and we need to be the people that give them that practice and guidance. "It's time to give all our students the chance to learn how to build a better world."

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Section 5 Retooling Schooling

Section 5
Retooling Schools
This chapter identifies five support systems that can work together to support 21st century learning, understanding and skills performance. These support systems take a look at standards, assessments, curriculum and instruction, professional development and learning environment. If we look at standards we find them set up to find out what our children should be learning. However, for the 21st century learner we need to look at what students should be able to do with the content that we teach. 21st century standards will also include levels of mastery for a standard from novice level to expert. (p.126) Today’s standards have been designed for the way we test which has made teachers focus on coverage rather than depth of understanding. Not only is this a national trend we find it to be true in a global sense as well. Despite what we are going through we need to focus on developing standards that focus on real-world problems that promote learning across all disciplines. (p.129) We also need to look at designing standards that the depth increases as students progress through the grade levels and promote looking at the big idea over long periods of time. Assessment is the second support system to look at for change. We all know that assessment is crucial to learning; it guides instruction and provides feedback. Unfortunately we are getting what we measure and finding ourselves teaching to the test. This type of teaching has often focused students on memorizing the content as well as causing stressful learning experiences. 21st century assessment is focused on the deeper understanding and applied knowledge that can come from rigorous learning projects. (p.131) A combination of summative and formative evaluation that measure content knowledge, basic skills, higher order thinking skills, and deep comprehension and understanding, is needed for educating the whole child. This third support system needed to retool schools is how we design curriculum and instruction. Basically providing a curriculum based upon using inquiry, design, and collaborative learning projects that include a blend of the learning methods is needed for the 21st century. Providing professional development for teachers in the 21st century is another key component of retooling schools. The following characteristics are needed to provide essential professional development: a) engaging teachers in designing, implementing, managing, and assessing learning activities and projects that reflect their own values and beliefs, b) incorporating teacher’s own questions, issues and challenges and the latest research c) collaborate experiences and expertise of other teachers d) connect teacher’s work with students and teacher’s curriculum e) provide ongoing support through modeling, coaching, and mentoring f) intergrading all aspects of school change, reform and transformation. (p.139) The final component of retooling schools is the learning environment. “Building 21st century “whole environments for the whole child” involves changes in the educational use of space and time, technology , and communities and leadership.” (p.139) In the future we will need to look at using our school facilities as a “learning studio” for not only students but the entire community. This chapter looked at five key components that if implemented correctly will change the focus on how we educate students in the United States.

Section 4 Lit Circle Summary

So much info so little time
Let’s start out with a quote “our problems are man- made, therefore they may be solved by man, and no problem of human destiny is beyond human beings.” John F. Kennedy.
The method that uses the power of designing solutions to problem is called designs based learning, or just design.
The learning method based on the power of question is called inquiry – based learning or just inquiry. These are the center of 21st century approach to learning.
Learning the P’s and Q’s,
Learning the problem
Questing at the right time.
The problem- question and inquiry at the heart of learning and understanding. Learning though solving problems.
The Skills are problem solving, communication, collaboration, information and ICT literacy, flexibility and adaptability, self- direction, leadership, and responsibility.
Creativity though projects arts use to be the traditional source for developing creativity. Now it is skills from everyone is now science, technology, engineering, and math “STEM”.
Evidence that projects learning works.
We have been doing 50 year research collaborate small group learning. There are significant benefits for students who work together on learning activities compared to students who work alone. Project learning methods project outcomes. Project outcomes are tied to curriculum and learning goals. Driving questions and problems lead students to the central concepts or principles of the topic or subject area. Student investigations and research involve inquiry and knowledge building. Students are responsible for designing and managing much of their own learning. Projects are based on authentic, real- world problems and questions that students care about.
The problems based on learning… a type of project learning, problem based learning involves projects focused on solving completely, real world problems. Design- based learning a team of students collaboratively designing an educational web site, obstacles to collaborate inquiry and design learning.
Research results are clear that the benefits of collaborative learning are great, and making collaborative team learning work well requires care a number of points including the following selecting compatible team members and defining team rules of the road that support positive collaboration, choosing group a activities that benefit from the differing viewpoints and experiences of team members, using discussion strategies to support deeper learning among team members.

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