- Freedom to choose what's right for them and to express their personal views and individual identity
- Customization and personalization, the ability to change things to better suit their own needs
- Scrutiny - detailed, behind the scenes analysis so they can find out what the real story is
- Integrity and openness in their interactions with others and from organizations like businesses, government , and educational institutions
- Entertainment and play integrated into their work, learning, and social life
- collaboration and relationships to be a vital part of all they do
- Speed in communications, getting information, and getting responses to questions and messages
- Innovation in products, services, employers, and schools, and in their own lives
Wednesday, July 6, 2011
One size fits all model of education
21st Century Learners expect the following (p29)
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I think that I already do a lot of things to make my classes interactive, personalized, collaborative and creative. Something I would like to change is to introduce more student led instruction. When it comes to teaching grammar, I often find myself standing at the front of the room explaining the idea. This is most often quite boring for students and it becomes something that they do not look forward to. Many grammar concepts have rules and rather than stand in front of them and tell them the rules, I want to give them examples of the grammar concept in use and in groups allow them to discover the rules themselves. Not only will this cause them to be engaged in the learning of the rules but it requires critical thinking as well.
ReplyDeleteThe other thing I want to do is give more differentiated projects. In the past, I have offered one option for my projects and starting next year, I want to provide at least 2 comparable options for every project so that students can choose the project that best suites them.
I think that I do some of the items listed but the problem in my classroom is that I am not using this consistently during the school year. I might use some here or there but I need to be using them more. One strength that I have is speed in communication. I try my hardest to get feedback to students in a very timely matter. I think that by using more project based learning students will be more actively engaged in my classroom and learning.
ReplyDeleteI already do many of these for my 21st century learners. I try to create projects with choices and one choice is always for a student to design and decide his/her own project. I also let students read any independent novel of their choice. I do not hand them a list to pick from. The idea has been brought up lately that we shouldn’t teach students all the same book. Instead, students should be able to pick any novel he/she wishes. This would fit perfectly with the 21st century learner. I just fear that some of my 21st century learners would not be able to hold up their end by discussing and sharing the book.
ReplyDeleteDuring discussions, I love when I have many viewpoints. I appreciate when my students’ viewpoints differ from mine. I allow my students to have and share their own opinion, but they need to be respectful of everyone else’s ideas, too.
I also customize assessments based on abilities. I always let students redo or modify and assignment or assessment.
I also think I do a good job with collaboration and relationships. My first and biggest goal is to establish the classroom environment to be like a family.
I would like to think that my lessons are entertaining and they are having fun while reading novels. I know, however, that not all students like to read and write. I try to reach those students by making connections between literature and life.
I plan to add driving questions to units, and have my students decide how to answer through a project. I will have to take baby steps at first by providing a list of projects and ideas for them. In fact,I will probably have to do this for all units for the students who need it. This way students can bring in a hobby, like video games, to solve a problem that answers the driving question.
ReplyDeleteMy main goal for this first year of joining the 21st century is to utilize my website as a hub of communication for my students. Whether it be posting homework, blogs and/or live binders, I want them to get in the habit of visiting it often. My fear is that I will attempt too much, too fast and not be good at any of it. Take my unit plan for instance, it includes using the website, Google docs, Live binder, global communication and publishing an e-Book. All of which I've just been introduced to myself this summer. However, with the speed that new technology comes along, I need to get going!
ReplyDeleteAfter looking at the question posed in this post, I immediately thought of the end of the year project that myself and Ellie used in APUSH this year. Students were tasked with creating a project proposal, they could do anything they wanted. As far as content, again it was wide open, there really was no restriction on topics, as long as it allowed students to searcher, analyze, synthesize, and finally present their information.
ReplyDeleteThis project allowed students to pick a topic they were interested in and gave them the freedom to work alone or collaborate with another peer.
Overall, I was pleased with the final results, however being the first year, of course there were some minor bumps. I think the biggest thing to improve on would to provide students with a little more structured plan or guideline to follow. Students were given an immense amount of time and did not always utilize it. I would like to include a checklist as well as a timeline that students can follow to help insure continuous progress is being made.
The other area that I plan on tweaking is to provide more time for presentations. Students were given 4-5 minutes to present their information and findings to students. Although some students adhered to this guideline, several of them went over their allotted time. I think by providing students with more clear set of expectations, students would have no problem presenting for a longer period of time, which would result in me having to provide more time for student presentations.
I look forward to tweaking this unit this year and eagerly await the results.