3 Steps to 21C learners.

C21 = Thinking + Global + tech?

As I cycled to school with my oldest 2 children today, an autumn chill spread from the handlebars, along my fingertips and up to my knuckles. I would have paid good money for that cool feeling three months ago when I was still in Bangkok, teaching at a large international school.

The new term is well upon us and with it a fresh chance to ponder on what it is all about. I started a group for teachers of children aged 5-11 on curriculum 21 and am emailed when new members join. I keep having to ask myself

"Does C21 just means adding a sprinkling of technology to the recipe of education?"
"Is it really about setting up videoconferencing?"
"Does it mean having a blog and a wiki?"

The easy answer, I suppose, is that any education which prepares children for the future could be said to follow the underlying principles of C21.

"Can the learning process be future proofed though?"

With the pace of change, mastering a particular technology is vital, but of secondary importance to the acquisition of the generic learning skills, using whichever current technologies which are available and are the best for the job. Thinking skills, or Habits of mind, might be a suitable framework.
Art Costa talks about sharing the vision as an essential part of developing Thinking skills, during his NGFL Cymru GCaD address. He is referring to the school wide discussion of shared language concepts and progression which must take place if Habits of Mind are to take firm root in a school. He compares the light from a laser which all travels in the same direction, with the diffused light from a ceiling light.

So, in order to start travelling in the same direction we need to have a shared understanding of terminology. Curriculum21 is a rich multifaceted concept which needs unpicking.

Here's a brief, bald and sketchy starting point.

C21 = Thinking skills + Global + tech

Please add your own C21 equations.

Flat Classroom projects

See the Coolcatteacher blog for details of the flatclassroom project videos. Here's one which takes snapshots of communication technology development:


Find more videos

like this on Flat Classroom Project

Here's another on a similar subject:

Find more videos like this on Flat Classroom Project

Great tech skills...Were these skills taught in school?
If they were, what does the curriculum look like?

Blogging as a tool for the 21st Century

I have just joined a ning...called curriculum 21

This was minutes after I learned what a ning is!

I think it's a bit like a wiki, a collaborative website with other added extras.

Anyway, I joined the ning and then made a group for teachers with children aged 5-11.

I was thrilled only one day later when 2 new members joined. Silvia Tolisano was one of the new members, author of langwitches blog.

Here's a very comprehensice slideshow about how to blog in the classroom. It's taken from her Langwitches wiki




http://curriculum21.ning.com/group/kids511?commentId=5190976%3AComment%3A1138&xg_source=msg_com_group

Blogging in the classroom

View more presentations from Silvia Tolisano.

Just started a ning group! How exciting!

My last post looked at 21st C learning. I went to the site and saw a gap in the market...maybe for good reasons...in the 5-11 age range.

I started a group to find out what others are doing with participative learning technology (like wikis) .

Please have a look and contribute.

21st Century Learning

Alan November talks about the gap between what we teach and what children need to survive in the real world:

1. we do not teach children to cope with overwhelming amounts of information
2. every classroom should be a global communication centre
3. we have to stop spoonfeeding learning, learneres should learn to be lifelong learners

There is a shift of control from the teacher managing learning to a culture of interdependent students who contribute content to the whole classroom.




Find more videos like this on Curriculum21

We are trying to do this in 3w, through blog comments and more particularly through our class wiki. Powerpoints made by students and stories written by members of the class provide models entertainment and inspiration for others.

A move towards more student led research clearly follows the direction of Alan's words. This is also becoming more common in my school along with a swing back to more connected learning through planning which is thematically based.