The How Of 21st Century Teaching | Powerful Learning Practice

Developing Our Students as Active Citizens

by Margaret Haviland | Jul 18, 2012 | Less Teacher, More Student, Making The Shift, Student Life, The How of 21st Century Teaching, The Moral Imperative, Voices

The question becomes, how do we translate our history students’ understanding of past actors into action by young people today? In March we decided to chuck the traditional exam format and craft a project to help students make this connection and consider what it means to be an engaged citizen.

Blogging is the New Persuasive Essay

by Shelley Wright | Jun 22, 2012 | Making The Shift, The How of 21st Century Teaching, Voices, Web Tools That Deepen Learning

I think blogging is the new persuasive essay. If weâ€™re trying to prepare our students to think critically and argue well, they need to be able to blog. It allows for interaction. It allows for ideas to be tested. And the best posts anywhere in cyberspace tend to have a point that can be argued.

My Students Reflect on Norway's Connected-Testing Pilot

by Ann Michaelsen | Jun 20, 2012 | Making The Shift, The How of 21st Century Teaching, Voices, Web Tools That Deepen Learning

After accessing the Internet for the first time during a high-stakes exam, one Norway student wrote: “I felt more secure on my facts and it made it so much easier for me to write my paper. I hope that in the future it will be normal to use the internet during the exam because you can support your arguments with facts you find from reliable sources. The future is technology, and we should be able to use what we can to prove what we are able to do!”

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.”