Be 21 st Century, Technology-Free Annie Kadala Harris Linda Dixson Deborah Hughes

Activating Question What words/ideas do you think of when you hear “21st Century”?

Partnership for the 21 st Century _content&task=view&id=254&Itemid=120http:// _content&task=view&id=254&Itemid=120 Take Note: a lot of it doesn’t deal with technology. It is about how students learn, what they learn, and how it applies to the lives that they live (and will live) in the 21st century.

Essential Question How do we change how we plan and teach in order to foster creativity and innovation, communication and collaboration, and critical thinking for problem solving?

Reflection and Revision Old (i.e. good, useful, successful) lessons and projects don’t have to be thrown out; they just have to be revised. We can always improve even great lesson plans.

Be honest! Take an old lesson plan and ask yourself the following questions. Use your answers to help you revise your lesson plan or project to make it more “21 st Century.”

Ask Yourself… Are the students generating their own questions? Math: instead of presenting a word problem. Show the kids a real world example, water filling a tank slowly, and have them ask questions. What don’t they know…

Ask Yourself… Must the students solve a problem or answer a question that doesn’t have a right or wrong answer? –Social Studies: Instead of making the history paper answer who, what, when, where, have them answer a question about how the historical event effects the student’s life.

Ask Yourself… Did the students help develop the rubric or method of evaluation? –ELA: Read a story with the class, ask them what they like about it. Have students create a rubric to grade the author based on what they think makes a good story. Use their rubric to grade the stories they write. – –Create your own rubric in advance and compare!

Ask Yourself… Must the students evaluate their own work? –Have students grade themselves with the rubric (either one you’ve created or one they’ve created) before they turn in their work.

Ask Yourself… Must the students evaluate the work of their peers? –Peers can also fill out rubrics for fellow students.

Ask Yourself… Did the students have any choices in the lesson or project? –Offer choice in topic when you must dictate the product. If the topic must be dictated, let students choose the product.

Ask Yourself… Do the students work collaboratively on any part of the lesson or the project? –Think, Pair, Share –Group discussion

Ask Yourself… Did the students use multiple forms of communication in the lesson or project? –Math or Science: Have students draw their understanding of a concept and then have them explain it to a partner.

Ask Yourself… Does the project or lesson in some way relate to the students’ lives (right now!)? –This is HARD!! It won’t always be possible, but we should try to make it matter now.

Ask Yourself… Why? So what? (Answer from the perspective of a middle school student.) –The better we get at making it matter they less we have to fight with them to do it.

Ask Yourself… Does the lesson or project go beyond the classroom (and the teacher giving the grade)? –Could the rest of the school or the community take part in viewing or grading? –Math: instead of giving students information on interest rates, have students call banks or car dealerships and request information.

Ask Yourself… Are the students constructing their understanding of a concept through guided inquiry?

“Tech-Lite” Example E:\Equity Plus Conference Example.docE:\Equity Plus Conference Example.doc

Practice Use the Graphic Organizer to revise one of Linda’s projects.