21st Century Learning.

Is there a place for 21st Century Learning in our schools? Of course there is. Does this mean that we need to eliminate content and the gathering of knowledge in order to incorporate 21st Century Learning? No, that makes no sense at all, although it seemed like several of the critiques of 21st Century Learning portrayed it as just that. The reality is that we need to incorporate 21st Century Learning into the confines of the curriculum that we already teach. 

The world is changing more rapidly than any person could ever change. Sir Ken Robinson makes a wonderful point in his video by pointing out that we are supposed to be preparing students that are starting school now to work for the next fifty years when in reality we have no idea what the world will be like in five. One thing we do know, however, is that technology will only become a larger part of schooling as the years pass and more advanced technology comes along. It is for this reason that students MUST be introduced to basic and advanced technological concepts early on in schooling. By the time that these students leave college and are ready to compete in a global economy they need to be versed in the newest technology to have any chance of coming into a good job. On top of that we need to equip students with the tools to adapt even after they are out of school so that they can continue to evolve as technology evolves. What does this mean for teachers? It means that teachers need to be just as fluent in this technology as the students that they are teaching. This is something that was not nearly as necessary ten years ago, proving Sir Ken Robinson's point on how fast the world is changing. It will require extra education and dedication from the educators of today and the educators of tomorrow in order to integrate technology successfully into the classroom and prepare students for life after school. 

From my experience tutoring in several Newark and Montclair schools throughout the years I have found that collaboration between students is essential for the growth of social skills and academic skills. Students that are not comfortable or hesitant working on overwhelming projects alone can find comfort in the helping hand of somebody that is going through the same thing. A second point on this, which i've made before, is that some students don't feel comfortable raising questions or putting forth ideas to an instructor because they don't want to be embarrassed if they are wrong. From my experience a lot of this disappears when the groups are made up of other students. This prepares students for their future careers. There is not one job that students will be vying for that doesn't require collaboration among co-workers. Teachers, businessmen, construction workers, engineers, pilots, and ANY other job is going to require you to work as a team to maximize productivity. This process starts early and the social skills required to do that can be cultivated in the classroom. 

All in all, 21st Century Learning is something that is absolutely necessary for students moving forward as long as it is done in the right way. Collaboration, critical thinking, and technology integration cannot completely replace the knowledge that students must acquire in order to understand certain concepts. There will always be a place in schooling where students need to gain knowledge and learn information in content areas but these goals can be accomplished through things such as group activities, on-line class wikis/blogs, etc. that incorporate the 21st Century Learning method. 

Week 4

Ever since we were assigned to create a wiki I have not been able to stop formulating ways that they could be utilized in my classroom. The ease that they can be created with and the many ways they can be used are the main attractions to this form of technological tools.
The strand that I would incorporate into this lesson is Creativity and Innovation because I believe that these are two very important things to put into a literature/writing class. Students need to be willing to take risks and not be afraid to be as creative and different as they so choose. In an English class there are often many right answers to a question and if a student is too afraid to explore all of the possibilities than the class is a complete waste.
I am going to be assigning this project to my ninth grade class so the content statement is: The use of digital tools and media-rich resources enhances creativity and the construction of knowledge.
The Cumulative Progress Indicator for this assignment is: Synthesize and publish information about a local or global issue or event on a collaborative, web-based service.
As I mentioned before I am going to have my students use wikis in order to create on-line newspapers. The students will be placed into groups of four and each student would be responsible for choosing one section that they would like to include in this newspaper (sports, movies, music, books, etc.). Once each student has provided an idea for a section in the newspaper, each student in the group will write ONE STORY FOR EACH SECTION. For example, there will be four sections in the newspaper and each student will write four stories, one for each section, for a total of sixteen stories. Once the students have peer reviewed and allowed me to review each one of the stories than they can begin their task of putting the newspaper together using their group wiki. They will be required to use pictures, creative formatting, and video if they so choose. Of course the stories must also be written well (good grammar, correct information, etc.). The stories must also be cited correctly and the research tools that are used must be reliable.
All together this activity will teach students how to use a useful tool such as wikis effectively. It will also force them to sit down and examine the world around them. Maybe instead of going on Facebook, they'll check out some news sites. Instead of watching cartoons they'll read the newspaper or watch the news. It will allow them to express events going on in the world around them creatively through the use of technology. As I've mentioned before, students that are having fun and moving outside of their comfort zones while learning stay much more engaged and, I believe, will eventually learn more.
This assignment could also be looked at under the strands:
a. Technology Operations and Concepts because they will be learning to embed pictures and videos and be learning how to format text in effective and creative ways.
c. Communication and Collaboration because these students will have to work together in order to make this newspaper accurate and well presented. They will be able to help each other with difficulties that arise throughout the process.
e. Research and Information Literacy because these students will have to research the stories that they are writing in order to make them as accurate as possible. They will need to practice sound research practices to ensure that everything they write is cited properly and is truthful.

Wikis as a Tool in the Classroom.

For this week's assignment I decided to create a wiki on one of my favorite topics in the english/literature field that I am studying: poetry. I tried to push forth the idea of why some people get started in poetry and I posted some resources that may help students begin writing. The first website I posted is full of scholarly articles, famous poets, and other useful tools that can used in research or for personal growth in the subject. The other site I posted is a commonly used site that can be posted on by any aspiring poet. It gives people the chance to share their poetry with others that are in the same position. It also gives everyone the opportunity to read and critique other's poetry. From there I posted some of my favorite poetry through videos and text. I tried to find videos that exemplified the way that you can combine poetry with other areas such as art and music.
I can see how a wiki could be an incredibly useful classroom tool. For one, unlike a blog, everyone in the classroom could contribute to the wiki directly. Sure, people can comment on my blog but they are not adding directly to the page and making it a more useful page for the next person that visits it. Perhaps there are some things on my poetry wiki that I didn't include and others might think that it would be helpful to add some stuff. This interactive site allows somebody to add on and improve the site at the click of a button.
The list of uses for the wikis really inspired me to think about how I could apply these tools to my future classroom. I specifically love the idea of having mock debates, dong literature circles, creating a class newspaper, and multi author stories. These are all assignments that I have done throughout my school career but adding the technology aspect prepares students through English education and keeps them up to date on the current technology, which is one of the most important things in today's fast changing world. Before this assignment I had never worked with wikis before but finding out how much fun I could have with them makes me realize how much fun my future students would have using them. It is much easier for students to learn if they are engaged and having a good time while learning.

Shore Regional High School Website.

I explored many school's websites and found it interesting that many of the schools I was checking out didn't require teachers to have websites because they can be incredibly helpful tools. I eventually settled on a pretty good teacher website from Shore Regional High School. It is the website of a music teacher named Mr. Kevin Pryor. What originally struck me about this page was right from the start he sold the music program on the homepage. He describes the program as "award winning" and goes on to name the numerous programs that students can enroll in. This includes marching band, jazz band, concert band, music theory, and a few others. This fascinated me because in my high school there was band class and music class. If you didn't want to take one of those two than you didn't get to study music.
Each class has its own section on the page and he doesn't skimp on the amount of information that is provided for each. For example, the chorus section of the page includes the syllabus and the schedule of practices and performances, which is to be expected. He also provides a large amount of recordings that students can use to practice for performances. Under the Band tab he provides another large selection of recordings to practice with. Just by reading the assignments it can be told that Mr. Pryor is a demanding teacher who loves to challenge his students. The assignments that are listed are very in depth and, even as a musician who has played the saxophone for many years, they seem to be difficult.
I have already discussed the reasons that this site is helpful to the students but how is it helpful for the parents of those students? Well, in many places music is an elective. It takes time outside of school, extra funding, and a pretty large commitment if one is to be successful and get everything out of the program that he or she can. Having an instructor that puts this much time and thought into the website for his classes gives parents a confidence that their children aren't wasting their time in the program. Everything is laid out logically and the site is very easy to use if a parent ever needed to contact him or check up on the assignments of their children. It is set up in a way so that there is no room for confusion.
As a side-note, although I didn't notice this when I first began writing this post, Mr. Pryor actually graduated from Montclair State. Just pointing out a strange coincidence.

Shore Regional High School Website.