LET’S GET SERIOUS ABOUT THE FRAMEWORK FOR 21 ST CENTURY LEARNING AND WHAT IT MEANS FOR LITERACY EDUCATORS NORTH CAROLINA READING ASSOCIATION MARCH 15, 2011 DR. BRAD WALKER, UNCW DR. DEBBIE POWELL, UNCW

WHAT ARE THE 21 ST CENTURY SKILLS AND HOW DO THEY RELATE TO THE COMMON CORE STANDARDS?

Life and Career Skills Leadership Ethics Accountability Adaptability Personal Productivity Personal Responsibility People Skills Self Direction Social Responsibility Learning and Innovation Skills Critical Thinking & Problem Solving Skills Communication Skills Creativity & Innovation Skills Collaboration Skills Contextual Learning Skills Information and Media Literacy

NC Schools will be led by 21 st century teachers.

We think a lot!

1. KEEP THE EMPHASIS ON MEANING  The little skills often take care of themselves or are so much easier to learn when taught in meaningful contexts  Children will be more engaged if they find relevancy in their learning  The brain ignores irrelevant information; make everything connect to meaning

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2. Tap into children’s Emotions  Passion as part of the art of pedagogy is not a hot topic.  Writing is means for expressing deep feelings, and children passionately aspire to apply their literacy in the world around them  Learning requires attention to the "continuous and interwoven fugue” (Lewis, Sullivan & Michalson, 1984) of cognition and emotions.  Emotions are not only intertwined in learning to read and write, they are also consequences of that learning.

Literate Conversation…. or ….. Questions to answer 1.Why are the Andrew and his day in the airport? 2.Why do they always wear blue and carry blue bags? 3.Where do they sleep? 4.Why doesn’t Andrew’s best friend who is 7 go to school? 5.What makes Andrew mad? 6.Why does Andrew keep thinking of the bird?

Add a writing sample here (Kyra)—my scanner isn’t working so I’ll have to go to Staples

3. Give students more responsibility for their own learning Provide choice in reading and writing Use guided inquiry for teaching strategies and concepts Each successful learning experience builds on the previous ones

4. ASSESS LITERACY TO GET MEANINGFUL RESULTS  Collect a information that is useful in informing instruction and supporting meaningful student learning  Gather multiple measures in a variety of meaningful contexts  Involve students in their own learning and enhance them in their understanding of their development so they can take charge  Focus on student’s strengths and “next steps,” not just weaknesses Winograd, Flores-Duenas & Arrington, 2003

5. THINK OF LITERACY AS POWER Is literacy a skill or a social practice? In what ways is literacy embodied (to help the child understand and discuss their world)? How does language construct reality? What is 'linguistic capital' and who has it? How is literacy implicated in relations of power and questions of identity in our daily lives? Hilary Janks asks the following questions in her book Literacy and Power (2009):

2006

To Turn it on—to teach children that literacy is power---teachers need to be empowered themselves Empowerment Questions Is my work consistent with my theoretical base of operation? What evidence is there in my classroom that I am doing what I believe? How is my work impacting the dispositions of my students? Do I trust myself and the curricular decisions I am making? Do I trust my students? Do I view my students as capable, competent learners? Am I assessing by documenting what I know? Are my curricular decisions based on what I know about my students? Why am I inviting students to do this particular activity? Why am I doing what I am doing?

Passionate Learner Empowered Teacher

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