Gifted Education And 21st Century Skills

Gifted Education and 21 st Century Skills: Models for All Classrooms New Wisconsin Promise January 14, 2009 Dr. Pam Clinkenbeard, clinkenp@uww.edu Jackie Drummer, blufflovers@wi.rr.com

Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or to the present are likely to miss the future. ~John Fitzgerald Kennedy

So what is in our children’s futures?

Continued outsourcing of jobs

Continued automation of jobs

Knowledge doubling exponentially and in increasingly shorter periods of time

Jobs/technologies of the future that have not yet been invented

Dwindling global resources

Thomas Friedmann, “The World is Flat”

Shift Happens http:// www.youtube.com/watch?v =pMcfrLYDm2U

We desperately need…indeed we may not survive…without a generation of young people who are imaginative, inventive, fearless learners, and compassionate leaders. ~David Warlick

Insert 21 st century skills route21.com 21st Century Skills

Higher Level Understanding in Core Content Areas…

…through interdisciplinary themes:

Global awareness

Financial & entrepreneurial literacy

Civic literacy

Health literacy

21stcenturyskills maps

21 st century skills have long been embedded in curriculum for gifted and talented students because… gifted kids, (fueled by their curiosity and intense love of learning), have driven their teachers and parents to explore many of the 21 st century skills.

What are some of the staples of excellent gifted and talented programming?

High quality curriculum and resources

Embedded creative and critical thinking

Decision-making training

Problem-solving training

Research and “I” search skills

Problem-based learning (PBL)

Early foreign language experiences

Varied products for REAL audiences (not just the teacher)

However, in the 21 st century, ALL people need 21 st century skills. The ability to learn new information and new technologies, and to adapt flexibly with innovative thinking, will separate those who are prepared from those who are not.

21 st Century Skills: Learning and Innovation

Creativity and innovation

Critical thinking and problem solving

Communication and collaboration

21 st Century Skills: Information, Media and Technology Literacy

Informational literacy

Media literacy

Information, Communication, and Technology (ICT) literacy

21 st Century Skills: Life and Career Skills

Flexibility and adaptability

Initiative and self-direction

Social and cross-cultural skills

Productivity and accountability

Leadership and responsibility

21 st century teaching must embrace huge paradigm shifts…

Teachers must be the experts at teaching and learning , not the repositories of vast quantities of information.

Our job is to help kids process (analyze and evaluate) information, remix (synthesize) it, and present it in new ways.

Are we preparing students for their futures, or for our pasts?

Willard Daggett

Creativity will become as important as literacy. Sir Ken Robinson

21 st century teaching will require more attention to process than ever before

We will teach a subject, not to produce “little living libraries” on that subject, but to teach students to think for themselves, using the knowledge, tools and dispositions of that discipline.

This will require moving beyond the basics in core competencies, and weaving the core content together at much higher levels of thinking.

Informational technology,and media and technology literacy will become the currency of the future…

Accessing and navigating through volumes of information

Evaluating data and information

Leveraging information – about what, so what, using what, what next?

Applying information to make the world a better place

21 st century teaching must embrace another huge paradigm shift

Teachers will become the guides to ethical thinking, the sorters, the pickers and the choosers – what to use, how to use it, and why to use certain technologies or information

Just because we can do something, should we do it?

Survey Results

Most important goals for helping [not just gifted] students fully develop capabilities:

all teachers know how to differentiate

students appropriately challenged in all areas of talent

students appropriately challenged most of the school day

Survey Results

Question:

What qualities do you seek in hiring classroom teachers in general that might help your district meet the needs of gifted and talented students?

Survey Results

ability to differentiate in regular classroom

promote deep understanding/engagement

show creativity/flexibility, other 21st skills

experience with diverse populations

“ passion to help students achieve to their highest level”

Learning To Change and Changing To Learn http:// www.youtube.com/watch?v = tahTKdEUAPk

Learning in the past vs. Learning in the future

Slow, controlled release of information

Singular process/singular task

Linear, logical, sequential

Work independently first, then network

“ Just in case” learning

Deferred gratifaction/reward

Teaching to curriculum guide and/or tests

Quickly retrieved information

Paralllel multi-processing tasks

Processing of pictures, graphs, video, then text

“ Networking” simultaneously

“ Just in time” learning

Instant gratification/reward

Teaching for relevance, usefulness, fun

What are we resolved to do to bring our schools into the 21 st century?

And how do we not only keep the pace, let alone be the guide?

21 st Century Skills: Learning and Innovation

Creativity and innovation

Critical thinking and problem solving

Communication and collaboration

Creative/Divergent Thinking Skills

Fluency

Flexibility

Originality

Elaboration

(from Paul Torrance)

Diversity and Achievement Gap Issues with 21st Century Skills

Identification of talents by try-out

Raise expectations for students

Increase early enrollment in challenging courses

Incorporate multicultural curriculum

Provide models

21 st Century Skills: Information, Media and Technology Literacy

Informational literacy

Media literacy

Information, Communication, and Technology (ICT) literacy

Talk to your neighbor: Compare and contrast the way most older adults (over 45 year olds) learn to use a new piece of technology with the way most teenagers or “twenty-somethings” learn to use a new piece of technology

What does each generation have to teach the other? Do today’s young people even learn in a whole new way? What does this mean for our teaching “methods?”

Consider this: While “digital immigrants” (those who did not grow up using much of today’s technology) will need to improve technical skills, “digital natives” (those essentially younger than thirty) may need help in the future improving social skills Dr. Small, Psychiatrist at UCLA, quoted in eschool news, 12-04

The 21 st century has already seen a dramatic evolution of technology and applications. How many of them have you heard of? How many do you use? How will you stay educationally current?

Is it time for “a whole new mind?” Or a whole new mindset about teaching and learning? Are we as educators willing to give up our status as “the learned” -- and remain lifelong learners?

Are we willing to learn alongside our students, and to let the lines between teacher and student blur?

21 st Century Skills: Life and Career Skills

Flexibility and adaptability

Initiative and self-direction

Social and cross-cultural skills

Productivity and accountability

Leadership and responsibility

Steps of the CPS Process

State the problem

Fact-finding

Clarify the problem

Generate ideas

Evaluate solutions

Plan for action

http:// www.youtube.com/watch?v =2yCB4i7GJuM&feature=related So…what does this mean for YOUR classroom?

In the words of Kevin Honeycutt, “We challenge you to challenge your kids to create, invent and improve the world through their ingenuity.”

And…in the words of Pam Clinkenbeard and Jackie Drummer, “ We challenge you to keep one foot firmly planted in excellent pedagogy, with the other foot propelling you forward into this 21 st century -- with your heart wrapped around your students, and your mind focused on their future.”

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