Assignment: Back to School Night

I see the usage of Google docs and embedding them into blogs useful to communicate ideas, directions, and information to students as well as parents. For this particular assignment, having the "Back to School Presentation" online gives parents a way to access the presentation and refresh what they've heard during the meeting. The embedding of the presentation on the blog also cuts back the cost of printing paper and keeps all posts together, without losing any information. Keeping a blog with posts of slides in it is helpful to parents who want to see what is being taught in the classroom and for homework or extra resources they can go over with their child.

Embedding presentations also help students in reviewing what happened during class as well as any additional learning that was posted during out-of-school hours. The blogs help to reach out to all the students as well as other viewers. Comments can be made for feedback and communication among peers and teacher. These characteristics help to build a virtual classroom that will enhance students' learning and access to more resources, an addition to classroom learning.

The Debate about 21st-Century Skills Movement

    I wanted to comment on the articles first, because after reading them, I felt that some were unconvincing and confusing while others seem to make some sense in regards to the authors’ arguments. I was confused because no one pointed out an example solution that would support his or her argument. Furthermore, the points brought up still caused confusion in what the 21^st Century Skills movement really entails. Are they only advocating for skills that businesses are looking for in the ideal employee? Are they really ignoring the importance of knowledge? Some of the critics, such as Diane Ravitch, attacked the popular trend by indicating that the movement neglects teaching vast information that is needed for critical thinking. This made me question: how much information is enough to use critical thinking effectively? Ravitch, in her Critical thinking? You need knowledge, continues to say that “the intelligent person, the one who truly is a practitioner of critical thinking, has the capacity to understand the lessons of history, to grasp the inner logic of science and mathematics, and to realize the meaning of philosophical debates by studying them.” So, would teachers be teaching students how the information they’re learning connects with one another? Or is it just about learning facts? If so, kids would need to study a lot and be able to connect the information on their own in order for them to be a “true practitioner of critical thinking.” How does one just develop critical thinking skills if they are not taught how things are related to each other or to even think in that particular way?

    The reason why I didn’t feel convinced by the arguments was because they didn’t give any specific examples. Jay Mathews relates a personal story about his final exam in his article The Latest Doomed Pedagogical Fad: 21st-Century Skills. It “would be applauded today by promoters of 21^st-century skills [because it involved] strategizing, analyzing, and collaborating.” He states that he didn’t understand what was going on, yet he still got a good grade when he turned something in. I can think of numerous examples that do not require 21^st-century skills, but one does not always have to understand to get a good grade. One example would be a physics problem where a student memorized the steps to get the final answer. He/she probably doesn’t really understand how the information is used, thus the student cannot apply it to other related and more complicated problems. The student can still get a good grade if the question is the same one, in which the steps to solving the problem is memorized.

    I also felt unconvinced with the articles that did support the 21^st –century skills. Judy Salpeter writes in 21st Century Skills: Will Our Students Be Prepared? Chris Dede’s beliefs that drills and learning just the basic information make students bored; thus, they stop wanting or even trying to learn. But, where is the evidence? Or rather, how does the “process of addressing a complicated problem” relate to the subjects at school? If the article explained an example of how these ideas would be incorporated in specific subjects, it would be more convincing. How is the ideal reader, who is an avid critical thinker, expected to make a decision without all sorts of evidence and support at hand?

    Not all the articles were unconvincing, however. I agree with two articles, one by Maura Banta (pro) and the other by Daniel Willingham (opposed). In comparison with the other “pro” articles, Banta talks about how the 21^st-century skills movement is “not about teaching either academics or skills; this is about blending the two and teaching one using the other.” This idea is portrayed differently than the other “pro” articles. She suggests that two should connect. I also think this is true. There should be a balance of both sides because both are equally important. Willingham clearly points out the benefits of knowledge and explains how it is needed more than skills: “knowledge is sometimes [needed] to identify the root nature of [a] problem” and as I have said earlier, “you might understand the problem and know what you’re supposed to do, [but, you will] still need background knowledge to use the critical thinking skill you want to apply.” As questioned above, how much knowledge should be taught if we are also teaching skills that are both needed in the future? Is there even enough time to teach all the knowledge and skills that are deemed important and relative to children’s futures?

    Both speakers, Ken Robinson and Jane McGonigal, make the argument or imply that creativity is crucial to developing the 21^st –century skills. Creativity allows people to think of various ideas that solve some sort of problem, from simply wanting to make a new design to figuring how the world can reduce pollution, for example. This idea may be true, but how do we go about developing creativity in the classrooms? If we were to come up with a common standard, is that giving too much power to the board of education administration? However, if students were allowed to choose their own learning, how will they know what they should know to prepare them for the future? Also, are jobs truly democratic, in the sense that you get to pick your own work? A worker may get to choose the method in which he or she completes a task, but the worker is still expected to get the task done. Unless a new idea is presented to improve the task, it is the worker's responsibility to see that it is finished. 

    Thus, as for teachers, they are giving children tasks to complete, not to benefit a company, for example, but to benefit the students in learning the necessary knowledge needed for the future. I believe that the basics are needed before talking about and teaching critical thinking.   If we were "discovering" what the basics were, then we would need to use some prior knowledge to think about the components of basic knowledge. However, we as a culture already know the basics, such as language, basic computations, reading and writing skills, nature, etc.; thus, it is our responsibility to teach these basics to students. From there, they can use critical thinking skills, taught and guided by teachers, to connect with more complex knowledge. Even further, higher-order thinking individuals will be able to solve the problems that have even fewer basics to jump from. To clarify, think of a block that has the most basic knowledge, such as the alphabet. Once a new knowledge is acquired, one will jump from the original block to the second, for example, a word. When another concept is understood (for example, a sentence), he/she will jump and progress to the third block (a paragraph) and so forth. Thus, we cannot have students start off at "block 10" and expect them to use higher order thinking when they have not understood "block 1" or even see the connections between blocks 1 through 9. An example would be giving a five-year-old an astrophysics book and asking them to find the solutions to the problems. Lastly, critical thinking can't be taught without making connections. The five-year-old would have nothing to connect with and would not be able to solve any of those problems. Thus, between each concept of knowledge, we can teach critical thinking skills by practicing how to connect prior and current concepts being learned in the classroom. 

Technological Standards, Learning Activity Lesson

Technological Standards

According to the core standards in technology, by the end of high school, students should know: 1) how to use technology, specifically the computer, for technical purposes and 2) as a resource for communication, obtaining information, creating solutions in all variety of formats, and practicing necessary life skills, such as creative and critical thinking skills.

The progression of technology achievement requirements is as follows:

1) By the end of Pre-K, students should be exposed to the computer and its basic function: turning it on and off, inserting CDs, opening the browser and the ability to navigate through it, using the keyboard and the recognition of its layout, experiencing how to take photos on a digital camera, and constantly using technology for interactive games or activities.

2) By the end of second grade, students should know how to demonstrate the use of the computer using specific terms and vocabulary, use the computer as a resource for depicting original ideas, stories, and solutions, as well as a communication tool to connect with other students. They should understand the importance and usage of citing resources.

3) By the end of fourth grade, students should know how to use the computer to create a more visual and multi-media oriented presentation of ideas and opinions as well as to analyze data. They should be involved in online discussions to learn and understand the problems other children around the world are facing. Finally, students need to be able to explain everyone's purpose in the society and why it is important "to practice cyber safety, cyber security, and cyber ethics." 

4) By the end of eighth grade, students should be able to create basic documents (i.e. flyers, etc.), share and publish their opinions on the Web, be a part in online communities to learn about problems around the world as well as the viewpoints others have about those issues, understand related topics to cyber use, and find information to support or oppose opinions.

5) By the end of twelfth grade, students should know how to create more complex documents (i.e. spreadsheets, charts, etc.), manipulate data through the use of mathematical functions, recognize the Internet as a life-long learning resource, create personalized digital portfolios for future career applications, using technology to create digital learning applications to offer solutions having gone through the process of evaluating resources and opinions of others and the collection of resources as support for their solutions. Students should also know where to search for valid resources and information.

Learning Activity Lesson

A learning activity that covers the technological standards in an eighth grade class would be to have the students pretend that they are docents in a group art show and are expected to present to the audience/viewers an art piece that they have extensive knowledge about. They would need to make a flyer with information about an artwork for the group show advertisement. A list with examples of artworks would be provided and students would need to pick one to research for information. They would need to research the historical factual information that would be put onto their flyers. Criticism on the artwork would be needed in the docent tour as they talk about their artwork. A minimum of five criticism is required. They would be shown which websites are suited to finding the appropriate resources and how to determine whether or not opinions are valid. 

In the next few lessons, students would be taught how to use programs on the computer to put together a presentation. After all the materials, research, and the formation of presentations are finished, parents would be invited to attend the mini group art show and students would present what they learned about their chosen artwork.