State of Teaching and Learning in the 21st Century

+ ICE 2010 State of Teaching and Learning in the 21st Century Lucy Gray Center for Elementary Mathematics and Science Education Thank you for having me at your conference, and tonight, I hope to give you a window into current trends in 21st century teaching and learning. I have four themes that Iʼd like to address and put in context for you.

+ 2 Presentation Resources  Slides can be found at http://lucygray.org  Links to sources mentioned here can be found at: http://delicious.com/elemenous/teachernet09

+ Experiences to Inform Your Work  Chicago Public Schools  University of Chicago  Apple Distinguished Educator  Google Certified Teacher  Other Recent Activities  School Talk  Schoolhouse 3.0  Breakthrough Learning in a Digital Age Chicago Public Schools 8 years in primary grades University of Chicago Computer Science Teacher Tech Coach Education Technology Specialist Apple Distinguished Educator Curriculum Developer Conference/Workshop Presenter Singapore Google Certiﬁed Teacher Google Teacher Academies Google Search Curriculum Recent activities School Talk Schoolhouse 3.0 Breakthrough Learning in a Digital Age

+ Another Nation at Risk Moment? Publishing Industry Globalization & the Economy College Tuition Test Scores Race to the Top The list goes on... “Were national and state leaders to openly acknowledge that blaming teachers as a group for the ills of poor schooling and then expecting those very same awful teachers to turn around and work their hearts out to remedy those ills is simply goofy. Over 3.5 million teachers do the daily work of teaching; they teach reading, wipe noses, ﬁnd lost backpacks, write recommendations, and grade tests. No online courses, charter schools, vouchers, home schooling, or any other star-crossed idea that business-driven, entrepreneurial reformers design will replace them. So blaming and shaming teachers into working harder is no recipe for improved student learning. Surely, like any group of professionals, teachers have to be prodded and they have to be supported. Prodding they get a lot of; support is where these so-called leaders fall down badly.”

+ Teaching for a Living: How Teachers See the Profession Today Contented 37% Disheartened 40% State of Mind Idealists EdWeek 23% This study was published the other day and frankly, it alarmed me. Conducted by Public Agenda and Naperville-based Learning Point Associates. The disheartened tend to be older, have been teaching longer, and tend to be in low income schools. The contented tend to be veteran teachers with graduate degrees in middle income and afﬂuent schools. Idealists had the strong sense of mission about teaching and believe in their efﬁcacy in terms of test scores.

+ Teaching for a Living: How Teachers See the Profession Today DISHEARTENED teachers are more Disheartened likely to: Contented 40% • give their principals poor ratings for 37% supporting them as teachers • express concerns about working conditions, student behavior, and Idealists testing 23%

+ Teaching for a Living: How Teachers See the Profession Today IDEALIST teachers are more likely to: • say they became teachers to help Disheartened disadvantaged students Contented 37% 40% • believe their students’ test scores have increased a lot because of their teaching • say that good teachers can lead all students to learn, even those from poor Idealists families or who have uninvolved 23% parents

+ Teaching for a Living: How Teachers See the Profession Today CONTENTED teachers are more likely to: • report excellent working conditions Contented Disheartened • be experienced in their profession 37% 40% • work in middle- or higher-income schools • believe their students’ test scores have Idealists increased a lot because of their 23% teaching I hope you all are contented. But, we canʼt afford to stay contented. We have to help all children and teachers feel the same way about teaching and learning.

+ Be the Change Piano Stairs You should want to be part of this change: Revolutionary Transformative Invigorating Challenging Potentially FUN Itʼs easier than ever to participate in this change because shared leadership is being embraced more often and because technology lets us network outside of our school silos. Iʼm here to report that change is happening. Itʼs not happening everywhere, itʼs not happening for every school. But there are some very exciting things going on and if you want to know more, you should think about four key areas that I believe are converging. “the paradox of being blamed for a problem and then expected to turn around and solve the very same problem.” “Over 3.5 million teachers do the daily work of teaching; they teach reading, wipe noses, ﬁnd lost backpacks, write recommendations, and grade tests. No online courses, charter schools, vouchers, home schooling, or any other star-crossed idea that business-driven, entrepreneurial reformers design will replace them. So blaming and shaming teachers into working harder is no recipe for improved student learning. Surely, like any group of professionals, teachers have to be prodded and they have to be supported. Prodding they get a lot of; support is where these so-called leaders fall down badly.” - Larry Cuban

+ Convergence of Themes  Social Media “Generational Diversity” 4   21st Century Skills  Learning Environments So, weʼre at an very interesting and exciting crossroads in education. I believe that the art of teaching is more important than ever in the grand scheme. And, if you are interested in participating in change, to any degree, you need to be aware of four trends or themes that I believe will impact your classrooms . As potential leaders in your buildings, I hope you will consider these ideas.

+ 11 The School at Columbia The School at Columbia is not your typical school, yet we can learn much from their practices. Itʼs a private K-8 school near Columbia University. Half of the students are children of faculty; half come from the neighborhood. All are chosen by lottery. Constructivism drives the curriculum, and that drives their use of technology. This School embodies these four themes that I will address in more detail: 1. Social media is important. 2. There is long range planning about 21st century skills in relation to childrenʼs development. 3. They value skills such as collaboration and cooperation. 4. They provide an environment that is conducive to learning.

+ The Social Media Explosion

+ Defining Social Media  “Online technologies and practices that people use to share opinions, insights, experiences, and perspectives with each other.”  “Socialmedia are works of user-created video, audio, text or multimedia that are published and shared in a social environment, such as a blog, wiki or video hosting site.” Social media is everywhere you look these days. From Facebook to YouTube, the American public is creating content, submitting comments, and networking with others. This explosion is here to stay and to understand how are kids are using these tools, you must experience them yourselves to some degree.

+ Implications for Education? http://searchenginewatch.com/3634651 For those of you beg to differ… itʼs hard to argue with the evidence.

+ Implications for Schools We need to start being thoughtful about leveraging the power of social media for student learning. We know kids are using social media on their own. How is it impacting classrooms? Is it impacting classrooms yet? Hereʼs one example of a thoughtful approach. The School at Columbia University in New York City explicitly teaches their students about the appropriate practices in social networking. They have their own social network and media sharing system which I will discuss further in my next session. In this example, the students have made profiles of famous mathematicians. Each profile is researched and written by students, and then tagged with keywords pertaining to that individual. A tag cloud of these keywords appears on the front page of this social network. If you click on one of these words, youʼll see all the profiles that a linked by that term. Students start to see connections and putting the work of mathematicians into meaningful contexts. This is just one example of social media being used in the classroom. The point is that collaborative, social online tools can be leveraged to deep learning.

+ “Managing Generational Diversity”/ Looking to the Future Generational diversity is a new concept to me and it popped out to me in an a recent article in District Administrator. The article is linked here, and basically the premise is: How do we capitalize on experience and innovation in our schools by looking at generational learning styles? . After reading this article, it occurred to me that this seems to be an overlooked area of school management. In an somewhat unrelated manner, it also occurred to me that we need to look at schools and technology from a longitudinal basis. How are we preparing our students for the long term? I believe that we are dealing with multigenerational issues in educational technology; itʼs not a simplistic matter of digital natives vs. digital immigrants. Young teachers may know Facebook, but do they know how to integrate technology effectively and meaningfully?

+ Think About Students & Teachers  Adults have different learning styles.  Baby Boomers  Gen Xers  Gen Yers  Kids have had different levels of exposure to technology. The period of time at which our schools have been wired is fairly short.

+ This is a tool that might help you put yourself into your studentsʼ shoes. What can we assume about studentsʼ knowledge and experiences? How are their experiences different from ours? How can we blend well together?

+ 24 Online activity pyramid: by generation Active engagement with social media The majority of teens and Gen Y use SNS, but (visit SNS, create SNS profile, fewer maintain blogs. Online adults older than create blogs) Gen X are less likely to use SNS. More advanced online entertainment State of the Internet (download videos, music and podcasts) 2009: Pew Internet Project Findings and More advanced communication and passive social media use Implications for (instant messaging, visit SNS, read blogs) Libraries Basic online entertainment (online videos, playing games) While there are always exceptions, older generations typically do not engage with the internet past e-commerce. E-commerce (online shopping, banking, and travel reservations) Research and information gathering (product research, news, health and religious information searches) The vast majority of online adults from Email and search all generations uses email and search engines. There is a natural progression within peopleʼs use of technology. Some people may move up this pyramid; others may not. Hopefully, they all are engaged at least in the email and search layer. Schools need to be cognizant of where their teachers are in terms of scales such as this. How are schools balancing the payload? Are we reasonable in our expectations of our peers given generational learning styles?

+ Project Tomorrow Speak Up Day Recommendations  Un-tether learning and leverage mobile devices to extend learning beyond the school day and meet all learners in their own world  Create new interactive, participatory learning spaces using tools such as online classes, gaming and simulations, online tutors, and virtual reality environments  Incorporate Web 2.0 tools into daily instruction especially those that develop collaborative or social-based learning and provide unique opportunities for students to be content developers  Expand digital resources in the classroom to add context and relevancy to learning experiences through new media tools  Get beyond the classroom walls and make learning truly experiential such as using high tech science instrumentation and creating podcasts with content experts

Let’s add some context: 2007 K-12 Classroom Internet Connectivity 100% 75% 50% Classroom Internet Connectivity 25% 0% 1994 1996 1998 2000 2002 Coming Soon to Campus: The New "Free Agent" Learner Julie Evans, CEO-Project Tomorrow Campus (c) Project Tomorrow 2009 Technology 09 Jul 27, 2009

Let’s add some context: Thinking about your students: How did they use technology within learning and instruction in their K-12 lives? Based upon those experiences, what are their expectations for your classrooms? (c) Project Tomorrow 2009

What grade where they in . . . when we reached the 90% Internet access in K12 classrooms? Class of 2009 – just graduated seniors 10th grade in high school Class of 2011 – your current 3rd year students 8th grade in middle school Class of 2013 – your current incoming freshman 6th grade in middle school Are they really “digital natives?” (c) Project Tomorrow 2009

Let’s think about your future students: Class of 2015 – incoming to 11th grade Class of 2017 – incoming to 9th grade Class of 2019 – incoming to 7th grade How digitally native are these students? What are their expectations for learning? (c) Project Tomorrow 2009

What grade where they in . . . when we reached 90% Internet access in K12 classrooms? Class of 2015 – incoming to 11th grade 4th grade in elementary school Class of 2017 – incoming to 9th grade 2nd grade Class of 2019 – incoming to 7th grade Kindergarten Are you ready for these students and their expectations for you? (c) Project Tomorrow 2009

+ Implications for Schools  Increases the need for targeted, sustained, and thoughtful professional development.  How are you meeting the needs of adult learners with very different learning styles?  Necessitates strategic human capital planning  Requires schools to think of skills sets needed by students at various points in their academic careers while gauging the future of technology.  How are you preparing to students in relation to changing technology?  How is your school changing to meet the new needs and desires of students?  How are you balancing student engagement and rigor?

+ 21st Century Skills Buzz

+ The Pedagogical Shift  New models of teaching and learning are emerging  Rigorous content + 21st century themes  “Sage on the stage” to “guide on the side”  New literacies need to be taught strategically  Examples:  developing a search mentality  Student personal learning networks (PLNs)  Standards and accountability aren’t going away  Assessments need improvement  A return to constructivism  Going global is easy In response to the need to address 2 achievement gaps that are present in the US… between those the underserved and the more afﬂuent and between US students and the world at large….

+ The Partnership for 21st Century Skills

+ MacArthur Digital Media and Learning Initiative The MacArthur Foundation is funding a great deal of research on digital media use and learning. This holds great promise for informing our practice in the next few years.

+ Implications for Schools Schools need to think about how they are approaching new literacies. How many schools are speciﬁcally addressing the development of a search mentality with their students?

+ Implications for Schools Just was teachers are developing personal learning networks, our students are doing the same. How can we leverage this process in schools? How can we prepare our students for a networked world?

+ Learning Environments Re-defined

+ Learning Anywhere & Everywhere  Personalized instruction  Personal learning networks  Mobiles  School Design

+ NYC’s The School of One  Summer school pilot  Middle school math  Flexible space  Personalized curriculum  Regular assessments  Variety in delivery of instruction  Lesson plan bank  Partnered with publishers

+ The Third Teacher

+ Impact on Schools  How does physical space affect learning?  How space be used flexibly in your classroom or school?  What will schools of the future look like?

+ So What ?  Social networks: You must be open to at least letting your kids drive the technology use in your classrooms. Be willing to engage them in the ways that they learn best.  Generational diversity: Change is not going to happen without schools working as teams to look at longitudinal goals.  21st century skills: The art of teaching comes through via the weaving of 21st century themes into core content. You need to give guidance and thought to classroom activities.  Learning environments: Just as we’ve looked at the whole child, we need to start emphasizing the whole learning environment. Personalized learning for both students and teachers is important. Social networks: We must lift bans on tools and “educate the fear” out of our communities (Cheri Toledo). Generational diversity: Letʼs leverage the experiences in our buildings. Letʼs also think carefully about our studentsʼ tech experiences throughout K12. 21st Century Skills: Teach to studentsʼ strengths and interests; guide them in how to be good digital/global/participatory citizens. Learning environments: We must educate the whole child by looking at the whole picture.

+ Recommended Reading  A World is Flat  A Whole New Mind  Disrupting Class  The Global Achievement Gap

+ 46 Contact Information Lucy Gray elemenous@gmail.com Skype: elemenous iChat/AIM: elemenous Blog: http://lucygray.org Delicious, Flickr, YouTube etc: elemenous

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State of Teaching and Learning in the 21st Century

by Lucy Gray on Feb 26, 2010

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State of Teaching and Learning in the 21st Century — Presentation Transcript