Voices | Powerful Learning Practice

Good Classroom Tech Is Like a Sweet Old Softball Glove

by Marsha Ratzel | Jun 8, 2012 | The How of 21st Century Teaching, Voices, Web Tools That Deepen Learning

Done well, social media and technology integrated into the classroom feels like a familiar old leather softball glove. It becomes an extension of your hand and you almost forget that it’s there. Done badly, it’s a waste of time and the return on your investment is nil.

Encouraging Teachers to Teach Creativity

by Margaret Haviland | Jun 5, 2012 | Less Teacher, More Student, Local Professional Collaboration, Passion Based Learning, The How of 21st Century Teaching, Voices

As the person most directly responsible for our schoolâ€™s professional learning, I have been wondering what professional development looks like when you turn Bloomâ€™s on its head and ask teachers to encourage students’ creative thinking early in the learning process. Teachers need to model their own creative thinking and embrace “messy” assessments.

Zac Hawkins' Plea for Classroom BYOD

by John Norton | May 31, 2012 | Less Teacher, More Student, Making The Shift, Student Life, The How of 21st Century Teaching, Voices, Web Tools That Deepen Learning

At the beginning of the year, when teacher Jamie Weir invited her high school students to bring their mobile technology into her classroom, Grade 12 student Zac Hawkins’ first thought was “Easy class.” He couldn’t, he says, “bring myself to take the concept of using technology in the classroom seriously — more than likely because I’ve been taught all of my life that technology is not meant for the classroom and that school is a paper-and-pencil-only environment.”

Our Skype Adventures: Creating Connected Learners in a Global Classroom

by Patti Grayson | May 29, 2012 | Creating Global Classrooms, Less Teacher, More Student, Making The Shift, The How of 21st Century Teaching, Voices, Web Tools That Deepen Learning

Skype enables students to connect, collaborate, and communicate with students across the globe. It creates an opportunity for students to learn from each other, to have authentic audiences for their work, and to meet musicians, authors, and others who can further their learning. The possibilities are truly endless. Skyping is no longer a novelty — a once-in-awhile special event. It’s becoming a routine part of being an effective 21st century teacher.

How Do We Teach Critical Thinking in a Connected World?

by Sr Geralyn Schmidt | May 25, 2012 | Making The Shift, The How of 21st Century Teaching, Voices

Along with creativity, collaboration, and communication, critical thinking is one of the four components of learning in the 21st century. Unlike the other three, critical thinking is often difficult to reduce to bite-size pieces of understanding and challenging to teach to others.

SAT Subject Tests invite shallow learning

by Margaret Haviland | May 22, 2012 | Less Teacher, More Student, Making The Shift, The Compelling Need for Change, The How of 21st Century Teaching, Voices

Every state requires high school students to take a US History survey course. For the makers of the SAT Subject Test, every event, every President, every person of note is of equal importance and equally likely to show up on the examination. If I were a college admissions director I would want an assessment that sought to tease out a young person’s sense of what it means to be an engaged citizen, not how many facts they know about President James Garfield.