Read How People Learn by Dr. John Bransford to find out more about:
- Teachers must draw out and work with the preexisting understandings that their studnts bring with them.
- Teachers must teach some subject matter in depth, providing many examples in which the same concept is at work and providing a firm foundation of factual knowledge.
- The teaching of metacognitive skills whould be integrated into the curriculum in a variety of subject areas.
If you are doing these things, great! Are your colleagues? As teacher leaders, do we help each other to make sure these things are happening in our classrooms? How many of us have the courage to throw out what's not working? Do we even know if something is working or not?
And remember--21st century skills does not equal technology. Technology is a major player, but it's about good teaching and learning, it's about authentic learning opportunities, it's about formative assessment, it's about critical thinking, creativity, and innovation.
1 comment:
I really enjoyed her talk. Thought it was interesting that 99% of the people surveyed thought we should be teaching 21st century skills, but very few knew what those skills are.
I think we are failing our students on many levels. While I agree somewhat that technology usage does not always equal education, we do need to teach proper technology usage as part of the curriculum. Students don't need to memorize facts that they can find online. They do need to learn how to find information, and determine if the information they find is relevant and factual.
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