p21.org insights

The layout and organization of the website was not one that I favor. For my personal learning style, the pages were too wordy and the whole site was hard to navigate. It wasn’t clear to me the main purpose or the target audience. My strongest criticism was the difficulty I experienced at separating advertising from scholarly writing. The majority of articles I found were aimed at State Leaders and therefore not altogether useful to me as a teacher.

This graphic helped me see how all the elements of 21^st century learning fit together. It was pleasing to note that 21 century learning is not all about the technology and that the core subjects of Literacy and Numeracy are still central.

I appreciated the link to Route 21 which gives you the opportunity to share your own resources and expertise, as well as a more detailed breakdown of the components of the 21 Century Learning Framework.

“Virtual Schools and 21^st Century Skills” by The North American Council for Online Learning and the Partnership for 21^st Century Skills. (November 2006).

“Eighty-four percent of employers say K-12 schools are not doing a good job of preparing students for the workplace; 55 percent say schools are deficient in preparing students with basic employability skills (such as attendance, timeliness and work ethic); 51 percent cite math andscience deficiencies; and 38 percent cite reading and comprehension deficiencies."

I disagree with the 55% of employers who imply that schools are deficient in preparing students with basic employability skills. Whilst I am not arguing that attendance, punctuality and positive work ethics may be lacking, I would argue that it is not entirely the school’s failing. Lack of work ethic and absenteeism is prevalent amongst the adults in my workplace and the teachers for whom this is true range from 20 to 60 years. I can scarcely believe that they had similar schooling and, even if they did, then so did those of us who are extremely committed to their profession.

The implications for effective 21 century learning is that conventional teaching methods alone will no longer suffice. As such, everything from philosophy, through pedagogy and curriculum to class room environments and teaching-learning practices need to be reviewed and, in some case, dramatically improved.

As contemporary educators, we must learn to emulate this philosophy and commit to the implementation of the new framework. School timetables, calendars and meeting times need to provide opportunities for collaboration and a less top-down hierarchy with regards to policy and decision making can assist in this.

The implications for the students are the increased expectations on engagement and participation. There is no room for students who sit passively by waiting to be “fed” information. Sorting, organizing and staying up-to-date with credible and reliable sources of information will present a new set of challenges for these 21^st Century Learners. Timely preparation and the dynamics of working with others may not come naturally. Personally, I think something we often forget is how essential quality literacy skills will be. In a world full of shared information, crucial dispositions will include the ability to skim read quickly and effectively; understand and manipulate words at deeper levels; communicate critical thinking and complex understandings effectively to native and non-native English speakers. Above all else the next generation will need to be adaptable and creative.

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• Re-Inventing The Learning Process: Really? (coopcatalyst.wordpress.com)

Blogging for learning

My parents always told me never to buy the first generation on any new technology. They say there will always be teething problems and that it is wise to let other people figure out the glitches. And so it is with Web 2.0 tools. I like to start slowly, rather than jump in at the deep end. I am cautious of over-loading myself. I enjoy hearing what others are doing with the tools and sharing what I have done.

I started out with a professional blog that I still use as a means of sharing what is going on in our classroom. It is the perfect platform for celebrating the students' shared successes and achievements. Readers are able to leave comments and I have heard that many of our students (whose extended families live in other countries) had shared the site with their distant relatives.

Since I have first graders, there is a considerably diversity amongst those who are fluent readers and those who have yet to recognize their name in print. Being so young they are also more restricted in the use of technology at home and they're awareness/interest in technology is not always as developed as their Upper Elementary peers. Some families still see computer time as an extension of television watching. If I were teaching older students I would certainly involve the students more in decision-making on the content of our blog entries. With more internet/laptop access than we currently have I would spend time having the students post and/or respond to entries.

Below I have attached a video by David Truss who argues that blogging "opens up the walls" of the classroom and allows students to take the learning on for themselves. His dialogue tells of his own journey with educational blogs and how he believes that online journaling creates Personal Learning Spaces for both the educator and the learners.
He ends with a question for us all.

Welcome new followers

Rather than share something about me, I thought I would welcome you all with a gift. This gift is knowledge, experience and the practical application of an online tool (which I like to call creativity). Of course, as with all gifts, some of you will have the knowledge already, others will have no use for the knowledge and some of you will find it useful at some point in the future. At any rate, like any gift, it is the thought that counts, right?



One of my favorite tools at the moment is WORDLE. I used it for all kinds of things. Its colorful layouts, choices of display and simple function make it ideal for my English Language Learners and my students who learn most effectively through visuals. All my kids enjoy it when we collect our ideas together on a shared poster. I use Wordle to garner prior knowledge at the beginning of our units of inquiry and for reflections at the end. Just take the children through it provides me with more valuable summative assessment than a quiz ever could!
Wordle poster are also excellent for Literacy (for example, gathering alternatives to the word said) and Mathematical language (especially important for ELL students). I use Wordle for story planning and for showing commonalities in Social Studies.
We even made a poster of our classroom essential agreements. I had the children write a short list of what was important to them individually. Then I entered the words they chose (such as "being kind"). The interesting thing about a wordle poster is that the more times the same word is entered the larger the font of that particular word. Thus, the words and phrases that were common to us all showed up larger and more significantly on our final poster.

Perhaps best of all is that it is so simple to use that the children learn to manipulate it quickly and effectively. The choices of format, color and font provide just enough room for individual creativity.

Please feel free to share if you have any great ideas to share!
Meanwhile, enjoy experimenting!