The Challenges of 21st Century Skill Integration in Classroom C113: The Constancy to Embrace Change

The Visionary

I’ll need to do more than simply be a “technology visionary.” (Levin and Schrum, 2009). Mr. Ray Bradbury – your futurist thinking has landed us right where you predicted within the pages of your infamous novel, Fahrenheit 451. How wonderful it is for me to be able to provide an authentic anticipation guide to begin this novel study when my Millenials are integrating the technologies alluded to within one of your greatest visionary literary works, F451, created 58 years ago! You rock Ray! Happy 91st this year! When I’m 91, I’ll be teaching as an avatar, if I’m permitted. What will that look and feel like? I’m ready; I’m middle-aged and still a student myself!

Initiatives

I am a definite proponent of the one-to-one laptop computing initiatives schools throw around as if there is an extra $400 per student hanging around – no thanks to the reductions we will experience here in this state, thank you very much, Governor Malloy. I was part of an initiative to evaluate writing skill improvement with a program entitled, MyAccess Writing. Students were provided with think-tank writing feedback almost instantaneously. Schrum and Levin note a Maine initiative in 2005 within Leading 21st Century Schools. The idea that students can become “better writers in general, not just better writing using laptops,” (Levin and Schrum, 2009) is exciting.

Virtual Learning

It takes me a few days to administer a nice little inventory of Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences learning strengths at the beginning of each year. I would welcome the speed of virtual learning where “parents will be able to choose learning environments most appropriate for their children, [due to] brain scan and body physiology modeling programs that read the DNA and neural networks of learners to determine the right combination of multiple intelligences, capabilities, abilities and motivations.” (Nikirk, 2009). I’ve never been a fan of the stand-and-deliver form of instruction. Constructivist teaching is the way to go. I am committed – I aim to do right by the theory. “Teachers may be called upon to assist and teach in certain virtual-logical, portal, online and physical settings” (Nikirk, 2009) with robots and wireless - everything! I am somewhat concerned about the nurture-nature big idea… Will that be a figment of imaginations of the past? Will my students see my passion for them? Will they have a second for that? Will I really be a living, breathing hologram?

Test your Tech

Before any of the aforementioned can be considered, something better be done about the netbooks. I have been using them in my classes on a daily basis for about 7 months now. They lose network connectivity about 3-4 times during a 42-minute classroom period. I am not a fan. I am tied to a supplier contract and must make do. My students and I much preferred the larger laptops in order to view the larger screen for on-line testing and applications requiring the wide-screen. Oh, the angst of a contract agreement - smaller may not be better…

Competitiveness and the NETS

Budget season is upon us. It’s unfortunate, but unless “educational institutions [build] supportive infrastructures that include diverse [corporate sponsorship partners] to [become] stakeholders [within] effective education initiatives,” (Cristen, 2009) we will not succeed for the good of all children. Gas is $3.89 per gallon. I’m not sure initiatives isn’t a “dirty” word in this economy. While the standards for both teachers and students help frame the proper instruction and learning scaffolds to actively engage and promote creativity within 21st Century Web 2.0 instruction, districts must provide means to fund the necessity for global competitiveness:

NETS-S for students:

• Creativity and Innovation
• Communication and Collaboration
• Research and Information Fluency
• Critical Thinking, Problem Solving, and Decision Making
• Digital Citizenship
• Technology Operations and Concepts

(ISTE, 2009)

NETS-T Standards for teachers:

• Facilitate and Inspire Student Learning and Creativity
• Design and Develop Digital-Age Learning Experiences and Assessments
• Model Digital-Age Work and Learning
• Promote and Model Digital Citizenship and Responsibility
• Engage in Professional Growth and Leadership

(ISTE, 2009)

E-Learning and E-Doing

I want to be an E-Learner who E-Does! I want to be teaching as an avatar (will I live this long?) to my students. I love what I do. While I aim to incorporate the NETs-S and the NETs-T within my classroom, and I am fully invested in the knowing that “technology has the power to make the instructor a better facilitator or coach, bringing greater resources to bear in the classroom and adjusting the instruction to fit the individual, [I just wish there was more time in the day to network …and] collaborate more closely with [my teaching] peers [to] enhance [my] expertise, and tap the many resources available online. (Christen, 2009)

Authenticity and Joy

“Given the fact that children learn in different ways, a ‘one size fits all’ instructional approach presents barriers to learning for some [students]….Building a background of knowledge through authentic learning experiences and audiences, students [do] develop confidence and interest in learning [is] critical for advancing to more complex concepts and higher levels of thinking. […] flexibility and [the] variety of learning experiences tap[s] into [… and produces] the motivation and engagement for finding value and joy for learning.” (McPherson, 2009)

Collaboration and my Web 2.0 Take

I am witness to the “countless examples of how student knowledge and understanding can be demonstrated in creative ways […] Creative approaches to instruction tap into the diversity of children in today’s classrooms – their diverse talents, abilities, interests, and learning styles. […] I aim to consistently “take my students into new places with technology, differentiation” (McPherson, 2009) within my classroom experiences. Once CMTs are completed this month, digital media experiences a rebirth in classroom C113. I’ll count myself in on Schrum and Levin’s label: I am “living and working in the new collaborative and interactive environment, [wanting to] “teach and learn to [my] full potential. My classroom SharePoint blog forum awaits, my 106 PowerPoint projects need grading; I must Skype with my student in Idaho visiting her sick grandmother – to clarify her essay thesis, and call-to-action quotation closer. I have loaded my lesson plan for the next anticipation guide into my latest novel teaching, Mr. Bradbury’s F451. I loaded Billy Joel’s Youtube video to my network. “We Didn’t Start the Fire” will initiate my next novel unit. My kids are completing their glogster posters and readying themselves to visualize the Cold War era prior to their novel study with me in English classes, and parallel unit in their history class.

Post CMTs and The Hook

Oh yes, and by the way, CMTs begin tomorrow. We have to standardize for 9 days – I’m sorry my students. It’s the law. I’ll meet you on the other side of CMTs when we can learn and grow together as we navigate our journey back into the 21st Century learning necessity to incorporate technology, to “hook” you in. Be patient my littles; I’ll be back…

Works Cited

Cristen, A. (2009). Transforming the classroom for collaborative learning in the 21st century. ACTEOnline.org. Retrieved March 4, 2011 from http://vanessajoyonline.com/EDUC536_files/christenCollaborativeLearning.pdf

International Society for Technology in Education. (2007) NETS for students 2007. Retrieved from http://www.iste.org/standards/nets-for-students/nets-for-student-standards-2007.aspx.

International Society for Technology in Education. (2008) NETS for Teachers 2008. Retrieved from http://www.iste.org/standards/nets-for-teachers/nets-for-teachers-2008.aspx.

Levin, B.B. & Schrum, L. (2009). Leading 21st Century Schools. Thousand Oaks: Corwin A Sage Company, p. 161, 163.

McPherson, S. (2009). A dance with the butterflies: a metamorphosis of teaching and learning through technology. [Abstract] Springer Science+Business Media, LLC. Retrieved March 5, 2011 from http://vanessajoyonline.com/EDUC536_files/mcphersonButterfliesTech.pdf

Nikirk, M. (2009). Today’s Millennial Generation: A look ahead to the future they create. ACTEOnline.org. Retrieved March 4, 2011 from http://vanessajoyonline.com/EDUC536_files/nikirkMillenialGeneration.pdf

Rotherham, A.J., and Willingham, D. (2009). 21st century strategies: The challenges ahead. Educational Leadership. Retrieved March 3, 2011 from http://vanessajoyonline.com/EDUC536_files/rotherham21stSkillsChallenge.pdf