Did You Know? What Does This Mean for Me?

Did You Know? is a project that originally started out as a PowerPoint presentation for a faculty meeting in August 2006 at Arapahoe High School in Centennial, Colorado. Since then the presentation has been updated and seen around the world millions of times. The video below was posted in the Fall of 2008 with updated information. As an educator my mind is filled with questions as I watch the video. How will we prepare our students to meet the challenges of this century? After viewing the presentation, take a look at some questions posted on the Shift Happens wiki

21st Century Pendulum?

I believe it's a good practice to look at all sides of an issue before making a decision. Once a decision is reached, the course of action becomes clearer. It also becomes easier to expend the effort and time needed to make the changes that will result in a positive outcome. A long time ago I sold vacuum cleaners. I learned quickly that it's hard to sell something you don't believe in. We, as educators, need to believe in what we're doing when it comes to the future of our children.

We've seen many education trends come and go through the years. Each trend leaves it's fingerprint on the art of pedagogy. Is the talk about 21st century skills just "a pipe dream whose literature should be tossed in the trash."(Jay Matthews, Washington Post) or is it "a very serious, very real, and incredibly important action initiative that must be examined and processed by every educator because - like it or not - our profession is being redesigned by the nation's need for a workforce that epitomizes the 21st century skills." (Beth Holmes, 21st Centurion)?

Read both articles and make your decision. Our children's future depends on educators who can recognize what is needed for the 21st century.

My Frog Does Not Waste Precious Time

I just saw a wonderful way to use Wordle (the online program that turns your words into word clouds) with students. Emily Leathead taught her class how to use Wordle and now it has become a regular part of their spelling activity each week (along with Spellingcity). After initially showing the kids how to Wordle, her students can all independently create their own unique Wordles with the current week’s spelling words. The students do it during rotations using a clipboard with the spelling words. By the end of the week the kids don’t even look at the list – they’ve memorized the words and how to spell them as they create more Wordles. This is engaged learning! I visited her class and sat with a student who was creating a Wordle. He was able to tell me how to do some pretty advanced customizing of the completed wordle. The natives are speaking.

Please take time to look at the Web 2.0 tools listed on this blog or from a more complete listing see Cool Tools for Schools. Share how you would use Wordle or any of the other Web 2.0 tools. This is exciting to me and I know your students will respond and learn. I’ll close with a poem by Jack Prelutsky that Emily share with me.

"My frog does not waste precious time
just sitting on a log.
He's learned to use the Internet,
and now he has a blog.
It's filled with tips on how to hop,
and how to catch a fly,
on things that frogs can do to keep
their skins from getting dry.
My frog has hints on where to find
the finest lily pads,
and writes in great detail about
the latest froggy fads,
He tells of different ways to croak,
and how to act in bogs...
it's boring for most people,
but it fascinates most frogs."

- Jack Prelutsky

The Way Digital Learners Think - What's Your Next Step?

Dr. Beth Holmes gave an inspiring presentation on how children growing up in the 21st century think differently than children growing up in previous generations. They are growing in a digital world that creates brain patterns that can process visual and auditory information 30 times more effectively than we can. Below is a list of 8 characteristics of digital learners.

1.Digital Learners prefer receiving information quickly from multiple multimedia sources. Many educators prefer slow and controlled release of information from limited sources.

2.Digital Learners prefer parallel processing and multi-tasking. Many educators prefer singular processing and single or limited tasking.

3.Digital Learners prefer processing pictures, sounds color, and video before text. Many educators prefer to provide text before pictures, sounds, color and video.

4.Digital Learners prefer random access to hyper-linked multimedia information. Many teachers prefer to provide info linearly, logically and sequentially.

5.Digital Learners prefer to network simultaneously with many others. Many educators prefer students to work independently before they network and Interact.

6.Digital Learners prefer to learn “just-in-time.” Many educators prefer to teach “just-in-case.”

7.Digital Learners prefer instant gratification and Immediate rewards. Many educators prefer deferred gratification and delayed rewards.

8.Digital Learners prefer learning that’s relevant, active, instantly useful and fun. Many educators prefer or feel compelled to teach to the curriculum guide and tests.

We’ve learned to teach to a variety of learning modalities in the past – here’s our chance to address the needs of the digital learners we see every day. What are your thoughts about what you learned from Dr. Holmes presentation? Can you think of one way you could make a small change to address some of what was presented and share it?

Do Schools Kill Creativity?

Sir Ken Robinson spoke at TED on "Do Schools Kill Creativity?" and made the statement, "Creativity is at least as important as literacy." He also said our education system teaches us that one of the worst things we can make is a mistake. Many 21st century thinkers believe the "right" brain needs to be given the same nourishment that we've given the "left" brain for so many years. Watch this short (19 minute), entertaining video and think about how this message applies to us. Share your thoughts by clicking on the comments link below.