 Celebrating Chocolate Day at your school is an excellent opportunity for integrating many content standards, from language arts to math to science and to many important social issues.
The study of the chocolate industry, past and present, has connections to economics, environmental studies, history, geography, cultural studies, anthropology and more. Multiple literacies taught/developed through a Chocolate Project include the arts and creativity, ecoliteracy, financial literacy, media literacy, information literacy, social/emotional literacies, global competencies and physical fitness and health. Visit our Chocolate page on the 21st Century Schools' Curriculum Resources site. There you will find suggestions for curricular connections that not only meet the content standards but are meaningful and motivational for your students.
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 Celebrate Taco Day with one or more of the projects listed on our Taco Day page in Curriculum Resources from 21st Century Schools! There is literally no discipline that cannot be integrated.
This page has ideas for relevant, real world curriculum from preschool to the university level! It also includes resources such as books, cookbooks, research articles, videos and children's literature. Most, if not all, of the Common Core State Standards can be taught through these projects - and you do not have limit your project to one day! Get the parents and community involved. Invite some mariachi players, too, or just get some mariachi music. Learn some dances, paint, make a video - but definitely cook and eat!  National Arts in Education Week is a national celebration recognizing the tranformative power of the arts in education. Designated by Congress in 2010 through House Resolution 275, the celebration is designated to bring attention to this cause for elected officials and educational decision makers across the country and to support equitable access to the arts for all students. National Arts in Education Week takes place annually during the week beginning with the second Sunday of September. This year it falls on September 11 – 17, 2016. Save the date for future celebrations:
 In this post I am offering my perspectives on how education today remains firmly entrenched in what is often called the Factory Model, which was designed for the Industrial Revolution. The majority of students at that time were educated to prepare for work on farms on in factories. This is an obsolete model of a by-gone era. But it is still with us today, well into the 21st century:   We need filmmaking in our classrooms, not to graduate filmmakers, but to graduate problem -solvers, critical thinkers and passionate people who can work with others to make that which does not yet exist, real. Nikos Theodosadis, The Director in the Classroom There are almost - seemingly - an infinite number of ways to design and implement amazing learning experiences for your students via project-based learning. Our model of project-based learning at 21st Century Schools is PBL21 - "the next step in the evolution of project-based learning!" While the climate in education for the past 15 years or so has been steeped in standardized testing, there have been, thankfully, some schools who forge ahead with meaningful, real world, exciting learning experiences for their students. They know that if students have these opportunities they will actually learn more and perform better on their standardized tests. One of the most powerful forms of PBL21 is videography, or filmmaking. This experience provides students with an opportunity to engage with the curriculum at very high levels, enables students to develop critical 21st century skills and multiple literacies for the 21st century.  These questions, and many more, can be explored using these resources. From the arts to history . . . these are wonderful ways to engage students in many courses. These are great resources for Constitution Day as well as the upcoming Presidential Election 2016! What are the connections between the American Revolution and what is happening in America today? Integrate technology through videography and filmmaking – students can create . . .
 We are seeing signs – like the first robin we see after a long winter, or the first crocus popping its head up through the snow – of a return to Spring, a return to life, in education. Unfortunately, standardized testing mania has paralyzed teaching and learning. Like "the Blob"it has eaten schools alive. Like Godzilla terrifying humans, it has terrorized million of educators, parents and worst of all - students.  NCLB was signed into law in the United States in 2002, which started an increasingly ominous impact on education as schools began their transformation from "places of learning" to "test prep centers".   Schools are struggling to find ways to transform themselves into centers of 21st century learning. They ask themselves how they can make school - education - more relevant for their students. Last summer my husband and I intentionally chose to drive, rather than fly, from central Texas to northern Arizona to work with a middle school. I wanted to take in the incredible scenery of the farms, plains, desert and the pine-forested, snow-capped mountains. It was an incredible experience, and the result was a plethora of possibilities and ideas for projects - just based upon our experiences on that drive. From environmental studies to science fiction and history, the ideas were fantastic. You may read about those in From Science Fiction to Science Fact and in STEM/STEAM Curriculum Ideas are All Around Us. While I consider myself an explorer and lifelong learner, fully committed to education that is relevant, rigorous and real word, and I always look for creative and exciting possibilities for project-based learning, I too, had an incredible experience recently in a visit to Mexico City. What the media show us about Mexico certainly had not conveyed to me the astounding wealth of resources in Mexico City and the United Mexican States. For one thing, it seemed to me that the people were very much more polite than the people here in the USA. Sorry about that, Americans! The media paint a picture of Mexico as being backward, dangerous, barren and poverty-stricken. While they certainly do have plenty of poverty, there is more to Mexico than squalor and uneducated heathens. In my first two days in Mexico several experiences jolted me into a new understanding of the immense possibilities there for educators - not only in Mexico, but worldwide. First was a trip to the Teotihuacan Pyramids, followed by lunch in a spectacular underground restaurant in a cave.  This past summer I shared some ideas for various STEM/STEAM projects which were inspired by a road trip from central Texas to northern Arizona. Part of that drive involved an unexpected, and totally amazing, experience - driving - for miles - through the middle of one of the largest wind farms in the world!  Today I'd like to share with you another excellent source of not only inspiration, but information, to help you design and actualize your own STEM/STEAM school. Dr. Aaron Smith is the Director of the very exciting Aviation Academy, a STEM school in Newport News, Virginia. This school represents the epitome of a 21st century school, whose designs are aligned to our 3 compasses to 21st century education which are then immersed within a 21st century learning environment - beginning with intentional design of the Physical Environment, then the Social/Emotional Environment, and finally, the Academic Environment. As you will see from this excerpt from the introduction in his book, Awakening Your STEM School, this school definitely meets the criteria for the perfect Physical Environment. They "get it" smack on! From Awakening Your STEM School, by Dr. Aaron Smith . . . SO MY CAREER has led me here. I unpack the boxes from my previous school leadership position to take over as Program Director of the Aviation Academy, a magnet program in the Newport News, Virginia Public Schools. I look out the large picture window at the tarmac of the airport. Housed in the old terminal building at this beautiful airport, the enlightened leadership of the Newport News/ Williamsburg International Airport — a perfect location to bring young people interested in aviation as a career. . . . This book is a "must have" for every educator, school board member, parent, community and business leader who wants to create a truly 21st century STEM school. From powerful inspiration and an introduction to the paradigm shift required in thinking about "what school is and should be", this book also provides the practical knowledge you will need, in a complete outline and guide to all the nuts and bolts of making your vision a reality. The school Dr. Smith describes is a prime example of the manifestation of the new education paradigm we've been hearing about from visionaries such as Sir Ken Robinson, Tony Wagner, Sugata Mitra and Prakash Nair, repeatedly calling for - not reform, but the re-imagining and re-invention, of schools. The Aviation Academy provides students with experiences that are rigorous, relevant and real world. Here you will find innovation; creativity; curiosity and imagination; critical thinking and problem solving; entrepreneurship; collaboration across networks and leading by influence; and effective oral and written communication. Here students develop 21st century skills [iii] and multiple literacies [iv] required for successful living in this new millennium. This school has escaped the obsolete "cells and bells" model, a relic of a bygone era, the factory model of 19th century education.[v] And, while it is physically located at an amazing and perfect location, this school extends beyond the walls of the terminal to the community - from local to global. Tony Wagner and Ted Dintersmith discuss [vi] the enormous need to prepare students, not only for the sake of the individual student in life, but for the sake of the economy and our nation. Aaron Smith's book, Awakening the STEM School, addresses that need head on, with powerful and poignant examples of why we must change now. This book is a clarion call to stop the damage being inflicted upon individual students, educators and parents as a result of (what I call) standardized testing mania. The messages in this book cannot help but break your heart, wake you up and then inspire you to take action - for the sake of our children and our nation. More than data, we are looking at real people, real humans, and a nation with an immediate and urgent need. As Dr. Smith so eloquently and vividly explains, we are on the verge of a "perfect storm" in education, an extremely dangerous situation. At the Aviation Academy the focus is on STEM careers via aviation; this experience certainly will prepare students for success in many ways, not only careers in aviation. And it serves as an excellent model for all communities who wish to ensure success for their children, their communities and the nation. Be sure to order this book and have some serious discussions - and then take action - as a result. Finally, Dr. Smith has organized an impressive array of additional resources on his web site, STEM School DR. [vii] Here you will find STEM web sites for teachers, information on STEM grants and a section for In the News. I hope that you, too, will find these resources valuable and that you will share them with all your connections and colleagues as well as your community! i. Smith, Aaron (2015-06-01). Awakening Your STEM School. Koehler Books. ii. Critical Attributes of 21st Century Education iii. 7 Survival Skills for the 21st Century, as outlined by Tony Wagner, Harvard University iv. Multiple Literacies for the 21st Century v. Facilities for 21st century schools. Also see my blog post, "Lose the Cells and Bells". vi. Wagner, Tony and Ted Dintersmith (2015), Most Likely to Succeed - Preparing Our Kids for the Innovation Era. vii. STEM School DR  One of the results of my summer 3R's (relax, refresh, renew) STEAM trip earlier this month was to once again engage with Science Fiction as a powerful curricular theme. Both the visit to the UFO Research Center and Museum in Roswell, New Mexico and the visit to Meteor Crater were excellent inspirations as well as a treasure trove of resources for the creative teacher. One of my mottos is: Learning is serious, but that doesn't mean it has to be grim! WHAT IS SCIENCE FICTION? Science fiction predicts change, explores consequences, and studies potential futures. It teaches adaptability and open mindedness in the face of change. It performs "imaginary experiments" to see how people react to change before the change actually happens, and provides a different perspective on our world. Science fiction writers see the future as a consequence of our present day. In this light, it is also a vehicle for social analysis and an opportunity to experiment with new concepts and their effects on humanity and the world. Science fiction presents many issues from many different points of view for us to examine. Click the "Read More" link below to discover an amazing array of resources and idea sparkers for a Sci-FI PBL!
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