Check out this web site: www.p21.org
By reading through the information on this site, I understand more about how I will be able to reach my first graders. My students who are digital natives are being exposed to mom or dad's smart phone, mom or dad's iPad or iPod, and therefor, their brain pathways are different than the students I have taught in the past. I therefor need to teach them differently. They are exposed to an average of 27 hours per week of technology at home. The average in my classroom is only 2 hours per week. They go to a computer class for 55 min once a week. I take them for an hour on my time, once a week. They are online at least 5 minutes a day at a math page.
This web site gave me a focus for my teaching. How can I get them ready for a job after high school or college? The basic skills of reading and math are still there, but now comes to them in a different medium: Internet, web sites, apps. and books online.
The 21st Century Skills they will need start in preschool or kindergarten. I can continue in first grade to build the communication and collaboration skills they will need by putting them into small groups for Math Stations, reading to each other (they can figure out a fair system of turns), or working on projects. I need to allow them more time to be creative and problem solve.
This site has announcements. I liked the Destination Imagination (DI) link. Teams of students learn to take risks. My students right now and their parents expect everything to be "correct." They are not allowed to take any risks. I like that STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) is incorporated into DI. They get to select a challenge and focus on solutions.
As I was reading the information on the 21st Century site, I kept wondering how I could help the colleagues at my school come with me on this professional development journey. I think I would like to lead a faculty meeting to introduce this site and then discuss the changes that are needed at our school.
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