Educational+Reform

The key to school improvement lies in understanding that the present system was designed to produce attendance and compliance and to “harvest” engagement. If Public education is to survive and thrive into the 21st century it will be necessary to focus on nurturing student engagement. Schools and school systems must be positioned to be in the student engagement business rather than the compliance business. Rather than demanding and commanding compliance without commitment, they must attend to creating work that commands attention as well as commitment. It takes a lot of courage to release the familiar and seemingly secure, to embrace the new. But there is no real security in what is no longer meaningful. There is more security in the adventurous and exciting, for in movement there is life, and in change there is power. Alan Cohen


 * exploring, wondering and questioning
 * experimenting and playing with possibilities
 * making connections between previous learning and current learning
 * making predictions and acting purposefully to see what happens
 * collecting data and reporting findings
 * clarifying existing ideas and reappraising perceptions of events
 * deepening understanding through the application of a concept
 * making and testing theories
 * researching and seeking information
 * taking and defending a position
 * solving problems in a variety of ways.

"21st Century Learning is students and teachers co-creating the curriculum. The teacher has a broad-brush idea of where to go, but the students connect this outline with their own passions, developing a syllabus together." Pasted from <[]> Educational change is not, and should not be, technologically driven -- but it is, and always has been, technologically enabled. []

21st learning culture (sort of) 21st Century Learning is not an initiative, it is a culture. "Children are the living messages we send to a time we will not see." - John W. Whitehead

That is why... Pasted from <[]> Being a learner in the 21st Century is to be squarely placed in the driver's seat; where learning is personalized, transparent and passion based. Being a learner in the 21st Century means to be actively engaged, where the process is truly as important as the product. Being a learner in the 21st Century means to leverage the rich array of tools to explore, collaborate and create artifacts to demonstrate a personal understanding of the world. Being a learner in the 21st Century is about being both a consumer and a producer...a prosumer. Being a learner in the 21st Century means being a contributing member of many networks, with the goal being to make the world a better place. the learning process is often more vital to them than the learning outcome or result. Many educators still view themselves as the only developers of content in the classroom, and the use of various technologies is often limited. In their personal lives, students are constantly participating in the generation of new content via social networks, tagging, bookmarking, instant messaging, texting, photo and video sharing, and a number of other avenues. They view themselves as fully capable of contributing to the learning journey in the classroom, but are frustrated because they sometimes discover that they are restricted from doing so. Pasted from <[]> What makes students curious - is being introduced to ideas so new and fresh that they haven't had time to appear on the tests. I am considering a proposal that our school district ban students from bringing in their own writing utensils. Having no control over the variety of colors of pen ink and softness of pencil graphite is a major issue. It poses a logistical nightmare for those teachers who wish to instill a certain standard in their classroom. It also poses a security risk. How do we know the students won't bring in pencils that contain lead? Also, letting students bring in their own writing utensils only exacerbates an already big problem we have with equity in our schools. Some students have the means to buy the best writing utensils while others will struggle to have any at all. Is this what we want for our kids? The other issue here is the question of whether or not these writing devices are hurting our student's brain development. If they can write things down they don't have to remember them anymore. We will see a nation of students who cant remember things and rely on books for knowledge. Pasted from <[]> I believe that 21st century education is defined by what 21st century technology makes possible that was either not possible or insurmountably difficult to do without it. We can’t allow the technology to be the defining factor in a vision of a 21st century classroom because the rate of change in technology would mean a nebulous vision of what 21st century education and 21st century classrooms would be. Our traditional classrooms are well suited for the types of instruction that favors the concrete sequential learner. Such classrooms to some degree assume that all students fall within a margin of the median student in needs and abilities. It has to in order to work. The traditional system of schooling places students who are abstract and random thinkers at a disadvantage. Their learning needs as they relate to content delivery and motivation are not met in the concrete sequential education system. We have known this for years but constructivist approaches to learning and teaching, which research has shown to best address the needs of these disenfranchised learners, have been extremely difficult and time consuming for teachers to implement in the traditional system. 21st Century technology has made implementing constructivist pedagogies more managable, thus allowing schools the ability to implement both instructionalist practices that address the needs of the concrete sequential learner and constructivist practices that address the needs of the abstract random mind. Right now the technology that has the most influence to change how instruction is delivered is web2.0 but that may soon change. It is highly conceivable that on the horizon is a new technology, or set of technologies, that will alter this landscape further. When that new set of technological advances comes along and we are still in the first quarter of the 21st century it seems foolhardy to make claims that a 21st century classroom is simply one that integrates technologies we currently have. It makes more sense to view this through the lens of pedagogy. A 21st century classroom is one which provides equal opportunity for student learning to all learning styles, treats each student individually with individualized learning plans, and incorporates both instructionalist methods and constructivist methods of learning. It is more a shift in focal point than what is included. In a 21st century classroom there are not rows of desks. There is no clear front of the classroom. The center is shifted from teacher to student and the teacher is an active learner in the classroom community. There may be computers in this classroom but not necessarily. Clearly technology will be present but that technology could be the technology we allow students to bring into the environment, not simply what is provided there by the school. Pasted from <[]> One of the questions that continues to vex many school/instructional leaders is, “What does the tech-infused classroom look like?” If you are evaluating a learning environment based on its use of contemporary information and communication technologies, what do you look for? What does it look like? It’s a tough questions, but I believe that at least part of the answer is to look to our students and their outside-the-classroom learning experiences — what I like to call the ‘Native[|1]’ information experience. I’m going to share with you a number of qualities of that experience, that are especially powerful, compelling, and effective as possible pedagogies for learning in the digital age. We’ll also look at tech as an avenue for professional development. What are the literacies of today’s networked, digital, abundant, and collaborative information environment? Might we start to call them “Learning Literacies?” I believe so. My follow-up will describe how professional educators are starting utilize todays information landscape to create and maintain networks of connection to people and sources of content that help them do their jobs. Pasted from <[]> 21st century classroom practice calls for the integration of innovative pedagogy, curriculum, and assessment strategies across whole systems—accommodating learner differences, linking to the real world, and setting high yet realistic expectations for every student. With an emphasis on learning by doing, today’s systems must integrate skills and content across the curriculum, help students develop a full range of knowledge and skills, and assess learners appropriately to prepare them for the challenges of today’s society. Pasted from <[]> Learning Researcher Phil Schlechty points to a new approach where systems view students as knowledge workers, volunteers, and customers for engaging work ([|Leading for Learning]). Student-centered learning Successful education systems focus on individual learning styles. They engage students in their digital world, recognizing that today’s learners live in a multi-modal, information-rich environment. Their pedagogy reflects the characteristics of today’s learners, who like to customize and collaborate, and who expect freedom, openness, entertainment, innovation, and speed. They provide guided digital access, high expectations, honest feedback, any time anywhere co-working, fun and creativity, and frequent checkpoints(Tapscott, Don, [|Grown Up Digital]). 21st century curriculum Education 3.0 systems select the best strategies for each teaching situation, engaging students and using problem-based, project-based, interdisciplinary, and collaborative learning. They also incorporate relevant themes such as the environment and global and local events. They make a wide range of speciality subjects available to engage learners –from art to Arabic, from economics to environmental studies—any subject requested by a student that can be accessed online even though it may not be available in school. 21st century skills Research shows that 21st century skills--problem solving, innovation, collaboration, critical thinking, and creativity--influence success and are as necessary in our global economy as strong content skills. Also important are life and career skills such as flexibility, initiative, productivity, and responsibility; social and cross-cultural skills; and the new basic skills – IT and information skills. Education 3.0 systems integrate 21st century skills throughout the curriculum, recognizing that they cannot be learned in isolation from core content. New assessments for learning Education 3.0 systems use formative and summative assessments, as well as self- and peer-assessments, to improve learning and measure the impact of pedagogy and curriculum. Although school systems may have been constrained to teach to the test in the past, it is hoped that assessments such as [|PISA] and [|NAEP] will soon start driving curriculum and pedagogy toward a broader array of skills. These tests measure student products and performances, not memory and test taking skills alone. Pasted from <[]> to be successful in the 21st century you’re going to have to be a learner, you’re going to have to learn how to learn, and go after things on your own. You’re going to have to be independent, curious, passionate learners, who don’t just sit back and wait for someone to tell them what they’re supposed to know, but who go out and try to figure things out for yourself. Who pursue your interests, your goals, your passions with intensity, and who actively participate in everything you do. Who go out and find other learners who are passionate about what you are passionate about and learn from them – and alongside them. Karl Fisch Pasted from <[]> Chris Guillebeau says: Many people believe that the key to an improved lifestyle is less work. I think it’s better work. I believe that most of us want to work hard, but we want to do the kind of work that energizes us and makes a positive impact on others. That kind of work is worth working for, and the other kind of work is worth letting go of, finished or not. ([|The Art of Non-Conformity], p. 10) I think that pretty much sums it up for our students, doesn’t it? It’s not that they don’t want to work hard. It’s that they don’t want to expend too much energy on work that isn’t meaningful. When we see reports of rampant plagiarism or tales of students who want to do as little as possible in order to get a grade, isn’t that an indication that they’re doing work that’s not meaningful to them? When students are working on something that they’re passionate about, rather than apathetic, don’t most of these so-called generational ‘values’ or ‘character’ issues disappear? Contrary to what many believe, our students don’t want to just get by. They just want better work. Pasted from <[]>
 * 1) We need to understand this social phenomenon and extract from it salient points that can help transform education to an exciting, engaging, and inspirational hubs of learning
 * 2) We need to focus on teaching, learning, and leading for all NOT focus on tools for teachers
 * 3) We need to shift our organizational mindsets on teaching and learning: rethink the notion of content as outcome; reallocate classroom time for collaboration, inquiry, and production; shift practices to participatory and connective learning; focus on quality of thought and action for a lifetime; create a [|multi-dimensional learning space]; and revisit the values and methodologies all classroom should exhibit
 * 4) We need to empower students and teachers in these shifts
 * 5) We need to understand that many students are "expert" at social networks but are not "expert" at learning networks - we need to learn how to leverage both and understand both
 * 6) We need to triangulate our beliefs and practices with theory, research, and practitioner narratives
 * 7) We need to embrace change, innovation, and risk-taking as constants in education
 * 8) We need to begin seeing and shaping all students as scholars with [|qualities of genius]
 * 9) We need to open the doors of our classrooms and schools
 * 10) We need to accept passion, play, professional learning, and professionalism as non-negotiable