Blog Posts - Becoming a 21st Century School

Filmmaking - the ultimate project-based learning

8/7/2016

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.

We threw the baby out with the bath water! Education "reform" gone awry!

8/6/2016

When it comes to education, we somehow threw out the baby with the bath water when:

Our schools were transformed from "places of learning" to "test prep and testing centers", and
Pedagogy, learning theory and child development were left behind in our rush to integrate technologies into schools.

I. Test Prep & Standardized Tests Replace Learning

This transformation was not initiated by educators, it was not approved by educators and it has been strongly resisted by many educators. However, between the forces of the federal government and the corporations who stood to make massive profits, education lost. Educators lost.

Worst of all - children lost. Many of our finest teachers left the profession. They knew that what this was doing to children was wrong, and they had no intention of participating in this process.

Constitution Day is September 17

7/29/2016

Scene at the Signing of the Constitution, a famous oil painting.

You have probably seen the videos of random surveys out in public and particularly on college campuses which reflect a near total lack of knowledge about history or our country. For this reason, a senator created a bill which made it law to teach about the Constitution at least one day per year!

Federal law passed in 2004 requires that all schools that receive federal funding provide a course to all students on the Constitution on Constitution Day, September 17. The law is known as H.R. 4818, and the text is found at section 111(b):

“Each educational institution that receives Federal funds for a fiscal year shall hold an educational program on the United States Constitution on September 17 of such year for the students served by the educational institution.”

As a fourth grade teacher I covered the chalk board in my classroom with life-size copies of the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution which I had purchased at the National Archives in Washington, D.C. (I laminated them first.) It was amazing to me how often students would walk up there and start reading it - they were fascinated. They made a very impressive and beautiful display. The links in this paragraph are to the National Archives in Washington, D.C. where you may order beautiful, life-sized copies very inexpensively!

(Yes, the students can also view the documents on their computer screens. But sometimes a tangible, life-size visual is much better.)

Find many resources for Constitution Day at our Curriculum Resources site. Make Constitution Day a powerful experience for you and your students!

Director@21stCenturySchools.com
Professional Development
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Who was Yankee Doodle? Why did he put a feather in his cap and call it macaroni?

7/29/2016

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 . . .

Mini-documentaries like those seen on the History Channel, Biography Channel, Science Channel, Discovery Channel . . .
A cooking show (I recommend using the format of Good Eats with Alton Brown).
Talk shows interviewing characters from the past such as Yankee Doodle or John Adams
Create live or recorded commentary and analysis on the current presidential election. This could include analyzing speeches, advertisements and distributed materials.

View the Yankee Doodle resources here, and find more technology integration tools here.

The Social/Emotional Environment

7/16/2016

Learning is serious, but that doesn't mean it has to be grim!

A new school year is about to begin (in many countries). Despite the ongoing problems which plague education, educators are preparing, anticipating that this will be the best year yet in their classroom, on their campus or in their school district.

While most agree that the purpose of schooling is for students to acquire academic content, we contend that schools have a greater purpose, which includes the academic. We agree with John Dewey, who said that school is . .

“a place to gain content knowledge, but also a place to learn how to live. In his eyes, the purpose of education should not revolve around the acquisition of a pre-determined set of skills, but rather the realization of one's full potential and the ability to use those skills for the greater good.”[i]

Before we jump straight to focusing on the academics, we must prepare the learning environment. This includes the physical environment - from facilities, to how we arrange classrooms, to schoolyards. Next, we must intentionally design the social/emotional environment. Then, we are ready to prepare the academic environment - and that starts with high expectations.

This post will provide you with many tips on how to create the optimum social/emotional environment - starting with what to do on the first day of school! Enjoy, and please add your ideas below!

Another excellent resource for the new year is this post, How daily meditation improves behavior - and increases creativity.

Click here to find your tips on creating the optimal social/emotional environment!

[1] John Dewey, Wikipedia

Project-Based Learning is Returning!

5/22/2016

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.

Image from filming of Godzilla vs. Megaguirus, 2000.

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".

A Wealth of Curriculum Resources - from Mexico City to Your Own Back Yard

5/22/2016

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.

The Blob - It Eats Schools Alive!

5/6/2016

“The Blob” is a 1958 film starring Steve McQueen in his first leading role. Click here to watch the trailer!

Note: this post is a bit of a rant expressing my observations and frustrations over the continuing, and to me, inane, practices plaguing education since the inception of NCLB. The purpose of this article is not to denigrate educators, although I realize it sounds like that sometimes. I can say that the classroom teachers are not responsible for these practices; they were forced upon them.

For several years now I have been equating a film, in which a monster called "The Blob" threatens to destroy all life on Earth, to the ongoing standardized testing mania that has been spreading, growing and destroying education. It began in the United States, in Texas to be exact (where I live), and this monster which I have named Standardized Testing Mania has spread virtually all over the planet - like the Blob or a pandemic.

The definition of genius is taking the complex
and making it simple.

Albert Einstein

More than a rant, though, this is an invitation for you to reflect upon the damage this situation has done to students, educators and parents. And an invitation to begin a conversation - here and at your school or in your community. I offer some questions to spark your conversations.

The Cemetery Method

12/15/2015

The "cemetery method" is a reference to the practice of arranging classrooms that is similar to cemeteries in that the students are in rows, very still and very quiet.

That may have been acceptable decades ago when schools were designed on the factory model. During the Industrial Age factories needed workers who were on time, obedient and able to perform standardized tasks. They did not want workers who were creative thinkers.

Continue here . . .

The Happy Secret to Better Work (and School)

10/23/2015

This TED Talk by Shawn Achor and his book, The Happiness Advantage, has excellent tips for how be happier, which is turn increases productivity, energy, creativity, innovation and learning. The book is packed with research-based data. I recommend this video for students, educators, parents, and business and community leaders!

An excerpt from this TED Talk, including some specific actions I would incorporate into my class. You don't NOT have the time!

If you can raise somebody's level of positivity in the present, then their brain experiences what we now call a happiness advantage, which is your brain at positive performs significantly better than at negative, neutral or stressed. Your intelligence rises, your creativity rises, your energy levels rise. In fact, we've found that every single business outcome improves. Your brain at positive is 31% m ore productive than your brain at negative, neutral or stressed. You're 37% better at sales. Doctors are 19 percent faster, more accurate at coming up with the correct diagnosis when positive instead of negative, neutral or stressed. . . . . .

* Write down three new things that they're grateful for for 21 days in a row, three new things each day. And at the end of that, their brain starts to retain a pattern of scanning the world not for the negative, but for the positive first.

* Journaling about one positive experience you've had over the past 24 hours allows your brain to relive it. Exercise teaches your brain that your behavior matters.

* We find that meditation allows your brain to get over the cultural ADHD that we've been creating by trying to do multiple tasks at once and allows our brains to focus on the task at hand.

* And finally, random acts of kindness are conscious acts of kindness. We get people, when they open up their inbox, to write one positive email praising or thanking somebody in their support network.

And by doing these activities and by training your brain just like we train our bodies, what we've found is we can reverse the formula for happiness and success, and in doing so, not only create ripples of positivity, but a real revolution.

Please see a related post in this blog on Meditation in School - completely amazing!