Week+3+CHARTS

=WEEK 3 FINISHED CHARTS HERE:=

Instead of discussion questions this week, please download the document on the Week 3 page, and fill it out as completely as you can. Basically, the first column asks you to define what each survival skill looks like in the classroom, and then provide ideas and activities you will do in your classroom in the 2nd column. Need help - look under "Media" above at the document created by teachers across the world - similar to what I am asking you to do, but I want us to be able to make our own.


 * KATIE'S CHART:[[file:Katie.docx]] **

__Comments:__

Jill: Katie’s chart: found it interesting, although not unexpected based on what we have read in the book, that we both included writing emails or participating in blogs as activities to help with communication. I have had students blog and it worked great, but I noticed I needed to teach them basic skills such as don’t use inside jokes, don’t repeat what someone else has said, and ask more questions instead of just making more (opinionated) statements.

Catherine: I think what's interesting here is that before I looked at yours, I wrote down a lot of the same types of ideas underneath different 21st century skills. I think that they all tie in together nicely and open up a lot of activity possibilities. I love how you talk about planning a trip to a city and have real life problems involved. I think I tend to shy away from that working in my classroom as a Latin teacher, but I need to find a way to make those connections or Latin truly does become irrelevant.

Ken: Great suggestions! Especially liked your entries for Initiative (it's challenging to get students to utilize non-teacher resources) and Accessing & Analyzing Info -- did you notice it is also applicable for the Collaboration Across Networks category?

Taylor: Great ideas, especially those that incorporate traveling and investigating different cultures through language. Managing money, time, etc. is a great way to teach collaboration and problem solving skills. Your experiences must add great perspective and insight!

Colene: There are a lot of ideas on your chart that I didn't consider and it's nice to have such a great list. Liz, we might compile these and give them to administration and to all the teachers at school? Just a thought. I like how you listed blogging. Tween Tribune is a great site and very teacher and student friendly. Kids can have an opportunity to discuss kid friendly news stories with students outside of their community.

Compiling these lists and giving them to teachers and administration would be great-- I think that a lot of teachers feel like they don't know where to start when considering new approaches / tools. It could be a springboard for other ideas. Also- blogging... Right now it seems like having kids write about anything on the internet is more exciting for them than writing about something on paper.


 * JILL'S CHART: [[file:21st Century Teaching Chart.doc]] **

__Comments:__

Katie:

Catherine:

Ken:

Taylor: Lots of great ideas, particularly those referenced in the website! I particularly like this one: //A journal entry, once written, need not be dropped. The teacher could combine the benefits of the freedom of a journal and the thoughtfulness of formal writing by having students later take an entry, expand upon it, analyze it, etc., and turn it into finished formal essay. // This sends the message that all work is valuable, adaptable, creativity is a process, etc. Also, I like the way you ask the students to think about what they would like the audience to take away from their presentation-this requires the students to look beyond their own perspective!

Colene:


 * CATHERINE'S CHART:[[file:21stCenturyTeachingChartWickham.docx]] **

__Comments:__

Katie: // You have some really great, specific ideas. I liked your idea to to have students predict what will happen in the story through an online discussion since it adds an extra dimension to comprehension worksheets - I may try this with the novel we're reading after Spring break. //// Your "student experts" idea is //// key in reminding us (and the rest of the staff!) that we don't need to know how to use every single program - we need to tap into our students as resources! // // I just did a project where students had groups peer-correct the other projects before I graded them. It saved me time in checking over errors because students had a chance to correct their mistakes before turning them in and I was able to see which students picked up on the errors. Your right, Taylor, they generally are too critical on their assessments! An idea to add on to this: I took an online technology class last summer and the presenter suggested getting "community experts" to grade projects throughout the year. Volunteers from the staff, parents, administrators, community members, or other "experts" reviewed student projects for nothing more than comments on a feedback form provided by the teacher. The goal was to have each student have one project reviewed over the course of the year and encourage them to put their best foot forward (in case an audience bigger than their class/teacher would have a chance to read their work) and provide a connection out side the classroom. //

Jill: loved your idea about kids having to complete a project being able only to communicate electronically. Such a great learning experience based on what some of the executives talked about in chapter 3; workers will have to complete projects on teams that may be made up of people all over the world that never meet face-to-face

Ken: I found your ideas fresh and intriguing -- especially those in Problem Solving, Agility & Adaptability, Initiative, and Curiosity & Imagination. I liked the themes of allowing unpredictability and "grading" variations -- giving students novel experiences.

Taylor: I would love to see your Roman presentations! There are so many connections between Ancient Rome and our modern world, particularly when discussing the basis of our government. We talk about this when I teach major world governments. Latin is not dead!! I like your idea of students' grading their own work. I do this several times throughout the school year, and I have found that they are pretty honest (sometimes too critical) in their assessment. It is also a great time saver.

Colene: Like, Ken, I was intrigued by the grading variations you brought up: allowing them to assess strengths and weaknesses is such a fantastic idea. But how does this translate to the gradebook? Is it just a collection grade? Or do they just get a perfect score? I guess that same question pops up for all of us so often. I also am thinking about how to have them come up with their own questions about a topic and then researching/reporting on it. This would be relatively easy for teachers to do. I actually did it a few years ago and it worked well, but I haven't returned to it in some time. Since we're learning about World War 2 right now, I think it would fit in perfectly at this point.


 * KEN'S CHART: [[file:Chart Ken.docx]] **

__Comments:__

Katie: // I like how you added "unsuccessful" results to your list. Having students reflect and understand why something happened that they didn't expect also has them think more critically and have a deeper understanding of the topic. //

Jill: the Egg Drop lab is such a great example of critical thinking. I believe this project could be taken to the next level with research and prototype testing all along before the BIG drop. Now that would be true critical thinking because students would use their research (access and analyze) to develop their container and then test it several times to modify the design (initiative and adaptability). You get at least three of the survival skills in one lesson! What a bargain! And students live the scientific method.

Catherine: I also like the idea of making modifications when something isn't working in an experiment. Adapting to the situation is a life skill that kids need to learn as well as the foundation for good science. It made me think again about the importance of letting students solve problems on their own, instead of rushing in to make sure they are on the right track.

Taylor: I like the way you allow students to pursue more in-depth approaches to their experiments. You are definitely asking them to apply at least some of the 7 Survival Skills, particularly critical thinking and problem solving, initiative (to find a better solution), curiosity and imagination (looking at a problem from different perspectives, and adaptability (not all problems are solved the same way). The students love the egg drop experiment-lots of oral reflection/dialogue!

Colene: I have always thought the egg drop experiment in science was very cool. Do they have to analyze what went wrong if their egg breaks? Your idea about the unsuccessful results made me wonder. I also started thinking, "how can I apply that to my classroom?" I think maybe every time kids get "unsuccessful results" (a bad grade), they could write a reflection on why that happened and what they would have to do differently to avoid that. I don't know, just a thought. I wasn't sure if we had a science fair or there was a science fair in the classroom. That seems to be an opportunity for kids to be creative, take initiative, and they could even work together. They have to analyze their results...


 * TAYLOR'S CHART:[[file:21st Century Teaching Chart.docx]] **

__Comments:__

Katie: // Your ideas definitely look to the big picture and global connections! It's so important for our students to see what's going on in the world outside of Lake Forest and you draw in those connections. I need to get more current events/culture into my lessons, so I may be referring back to your chart for some ideas! How did you go about the emailing with the family in Zimbabwe? My fear of trying something like (email, Skype) this is that I won't have a way to involve all students in this at once... //

Jill: Your Initiative activity would lend itself easily to the Six Hats Thinking model. Solving the problem using this model involves looking at the problem from different perspectives: RED-emotional, YELLOW-positive outcomes, BLACK-possible problems, WHITE-facts only, GREEN-creative, and BLUE-metacognition. This process helps kids structure their thinking; a helpful tool as the learn this skill.

Catherine: I second what Katie said, above. Seeing the big picture and making global connections are such important skills for our students to learn, but I sometimes feel limited by my subject matter-- even though I shouldn't and there are definite ways to incorporate these things into my Latin curriculum. I am hoping to set up my "skype an expert" part of a project this year for fifth graders, and I am looking forward to next year maybe having netbooks for all of my students! Letters to the editor is also such a good idea... maybe I should have my students write some about the importance of studying the Classics?

Ken: I really liked your ideas concerning real world issues and having students consult and utilize (actual) people as resources. Communication in both directions is truly authentic -- gathering and processing relevant information, and then making contributions to the community-at-large.

Colene: So many ideas on current world issues. You have my head spinning. Sometimes I'm not sure how much our kids really know about what is going on in the world. Some of them are very involved, but others don't even know about the protests and the toppling of dictators in Tunisia, Libya or Cairo. They don't even know about what's happening in Wisconsin. I do think bringing in more current events is a lovely idea and there is so much controversy, it would make for a lively discussion.


 * COLENE'S CHART: **

__Comments:__

Katie: // I like your definition of Agility & Adaptability. I think I might use your suggestion about having students explain how they go above and beyond because sometimes I don't think they know what that means! Do you have students journal often? I've tried it before but haven't felt I've been very successful with it. //

I try journaling every year - Some topics work better than others. I have them use their journal to free write, respond to questions, practice a writing skill. We break it out a lot honestly. I always have them share what they wrote with a partner, which I think helps them to be more invested in the journaling. I find it's just about impossible to grade, which becomes an issue when kids realize I don't grade it, many of them don't feel a need to put much effort into it. I have no idea how to resolve the fact that kids are obsessed with scores and grades. // Great idea to have them share with other students...the grading was the issue I always faced which is why I stopped doing it, but you may have inspired me to try it again! //

I loved having my kids journal as a warm up activity-- usually with a prompt or a question. I did it more last year and would also like to try it again. However, Colene, I'm with you on the grading thing. It seems like there is no way to get around it, and I hate feeling that way... There must be a way to get students engaged without dangling a carrot or a stick-- but it seems like for some it might be developmentally appropriate to have a stick? grade? I don't know.. :(

Jill: I should have read your chart first. No disrespect to the rest of the group, but it seemed we all struggled with the explanations and activities for Initiative and Adaptability, but you did a great job (and you were succinct). I couldn’t think of anything for adaptability probably because this is a skill learned as we live (through experiences). There is not much we can do as teachers in a lesson format to develop this except to help kids feel “okay” when things change and that it is all right to regroup and rethink. Maybe my students are really good at this because I am so unorganized that sometimes they have no idea what to expect; by default my kids are becoming more agile everyday! Ha!

Catherine: I also like the idea of talking to the students about what going "above and beyond" means. When students do that when working on a project in my class, the excitement is so palpable for me and the students! Also, I like the idea of Socratic circles and Web quests. Have you had a lot of luck with Web Quests? I've always wanted to try one and haven't done it yet.

Ken: Awesome ideas! Engaging students with thought-provoking questions and hypothetical situations (in groups) really gets everyone involved. The challenge of changing the ingrained "grading culture" still looms before us. It's an artificial and externally motivated system. We need to find ways to re-ignite the natural internal passion for learning.

Taylor: I haven't done much with journaling and I should-it's a great way for students to show their thinking, addresses "Oral and Written" skills, and, as an assessment, a way to check-in. I can understand how grading might be an issue. I just created a Web Quest on genocide; a few students completed it once they finished typing their analytical paper. I wish more could have tried it...just ran out of time. This was an attempt to go Above and Beyond and Explore. Naturally the first question out of their mouths, "Can we get extra credit??" The students that attempted it are the ones that really don't need any extra credit.

// I get frustrated by the extra credit, too! I've tried using "extra practice" instead and making it "required" to complete at least one extension activity per chapter, but that never seemed to work. Some of our students get paid for having good grades, so it's hard to motivate some of them without dangling a carrot like Catherine said.... //