Preparing Students for the 21st Century: What the New North Carolina Professional Teaching Standards

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Preparing Students for the 21st Century What the
New North Carolina Professional Teaching
Standards Mean for Literacy Teachers, K-9

• NCRA, March 2008
• Kathy Fox, Barbara Honchell, Ann Potts, Debbie
  Powell, Katie Schlichting, Jeanne Swafford,
• and Brad Walker

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Who Are the 21st Century Learners?
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Open Hyperlink or cut and paste into your
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21st Century Teacher Standards

• In order to understand the New Vision of
  Teaching, we must understand the expectations for
  learners.
• We recognize that we are calling on schools to
  change dramatically, even as they face difficult
  economic challenges and a vigorous discussion of
  student achievement and assessment
• 21st Century Partnership
• http//www.21stcenturyskills.org/

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Framework for 21st Century Learning
www.21stcenturyskills.org
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Teachers need to model the 21st Century skills if
they are to meet the Professional Standards

• STUDENTS
• Leadership Contextual learning
  skills Risk Taking
• Personal responsibility Information and media
  
• Collaboration skills literacy
  skills
• Ethics Personal
  productivity
• Social responsibility Creativity
• innovation skills Adaptability
• Accountability Critical-thinking
  and problem- solving skills
• Communication skills Self-direction
  
  
• Managing Complexity Curiosity
• Sound
  Reasoning
• 
  Inventive Thinking
• People
  skills
• http//www.21
  stcenturyskills.
  
• org/documents/framewo
  rk
• flyer_102607.pdf\

• TEACHERS
• DEMONSTRATE LEADERSHIP IN CLASSROOM, SCHOOL AND
  PROFESSION
• ESTABLISH A RESPECTFUL ENVIRONMENT FOR A DIVERSE
  POPULATION OF STUDENTS
• FACILITATE LEARNING FOR THEIR STUDENTS
• KNOW THE CONTENT THEY
• TEACH
• REFLECT ON THEIR
• PRACTICE
• http//www.ncptsc.org/Final
• 20Standards20Document.pdf

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TEACHERS DEMONSTRATE LEADERSHIP

• Brad Walker

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Leading Through Empowerment

• Give power to
• Sanction
• Allow
• Authorize
• Make powerful
• Make more confident or assertive

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Empowering vs. Limiting

• LIFTING teaching children
• Seeing the big picture
• Supporting learning
• Kid-watching questions
• What do you think? Why?
• What do I know about my kids?
• What can my students do?
• Am I consistent with my beliefs?
• How am I impacting the dispositions of my
  students?
• Do I trust my students?
• How can I let go of more?
• Collaboration

• LIMITING teaching programs
• Tied to program implementation
• Mechanics of teaching
• Pacing guide questions
• How am I supposed to do this?
• Is this right?
• What lesson comes next?
• Am I doing it the right way?
• Are my students ready for the test?
• What???
• I prefer to work alone
• Isolation

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Empowering Others and Ourselves

• Immersion into a learning community
• Make curricular decisions based on what we know
  about students and what we know about learning
  and teaching
• Trust ourselves, abilities, and gut feelings
• Trust our students as capable competent
• Dare to risk
• Dare to inquireexplore our craft

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A Helpful Checklist for Planning

• Why am I teaching this to these students? How
  does this fulfill their needs? Am I meeting
  their needs?
• What is my big understanding or strategy I am
  teaching?
• How will this idea or strategy be used by these
  children, today, tomorrow, and in the future?
• Is my work impacting the dispositions of my
  students?
• How will my assessment planned for this lesson
  inform me and my students about what they have
  learned or need to learn next?
• Who has the primary responsibility for learning
  in this lesson? Do I trust myself and my
  children?
• How is my teaching consistent with my beliefs and
  what I know about kids?
• Debbie Powell Brad Walker, UNCW, 2008

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TEACHERS ESTABLISH A RESPECTFUL ENVIRONMENT FOR A
DIVERSE POPULATION OF STUDENTS

• Ann Potts

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Teachers embrace diversity in the school,
community and in the world.

• Knowledge of diverse cultures.
• Design lessons that counteract stereotypes.
• Incorporate and consider different points of view.

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Multicultural Curriculum Reform
http//www.intime.uni.edu/multiculture/curriculum/
approachs.htm

• Banks, J. A.
• 
  
  2008

Level 4 Social Action Approach Students share
viewpoints on social issues and take actions to
help solve them.
Level 3 The Transformation Approach The
structure of the curriculum is changed, concepts
are viewed from the perspective of diverse ethnic
and cultural groups .
Level 2 The Additive Approach Content concepts
are added to the curriculum without changing the
structure.
Level 1 The Contributions Approach Focus on
heroes and holidays and discrete cultural
elements.
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Level 4 Social Action Approach Students
share viewpoints on social issues and take
actions to help solve them.

• Enables students to pursue projects and
  activities that allow them to make decisions.
• To take personal, social and civic actions
  related to the problems, concepts and issues
  they have studied.
• 
  Banks, J.A. (2008)

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How? Critical Literacy

• Students need to be proficient in four
  interrelated dimensions of language use.
• code breaker
• text participant
• text user
• and text analyst
• Freebody and Luke (1991)

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• Critical literacy practices can explore
• Why am I/are we reading this text?
• Who benefits from the text?
• In whose interest is the text?
• What is the text about?
• What view of the world is the text presenting?
• What kind of knowledge is presented/not
• presented in the text?
• How do I feel about the text?
• How many interpretations of the text are
  possible?
• What kinds of social realities does the text
  portray?
• How does the text depict age, gender, culture?
• 
  Pitt, J. 1995

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21st Century Content

• Will the content of the 20th century be
  sufficient for children
• in the 21st century?
• Jeanne Swafford

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What do students need to learn to become
responsible, productive,informed 21st century
citizens?

• World is Changing
• Last 100 years
• 5 years ago information has doubled
• 2 years ago technical information has doubled
• 1 hour ago electronic information has doubled
• (Partnership for 21st Century Skills, 2007)

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Core Subjects

• English, reading, language arts
• Foreign Languages
• Arts
• Mathematics
• Economics
• Science
• Geography
• History
• Government Civics

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Problem

• So much to teach
• Try to cover too much information, which detracts
  from learning core concepts
• Recommendations
• Select key concepts teach in-depth
• Use interdisciplinary themes to link the core
  content, not add more subjects to the curriculum

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Global Awareness

• Understand other nations and cultures
• Understand and address global issues
• Work collaboratively respectfully with others

• How?
• Communicate directly with children in classrooms
  from across the world
• Virtual tours
• Bring community into classroom and classroom into
  community

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Financial, Economic, Business, Entrepreneurial
Literacy

• Make informed personal financial economic
  choices
• Understand role of the economy locally,
  nationally, internationally
• Use entrepreneurial skills to enhance workplace
  productivity career options

• How?
• Problem-based learning
• Simulations
• In-class projects
• School or classroom community projects

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Civic literacy

• Understand governmental processes
• Become actively involved in community activities
• Take civic responsibilities seriously by
  participating at local, state, national, global
  levels
• Understand that the impact of decisions by
  citizenry has a ripple effect

• How?
• Simulations
• Interview candidates
• Involve students in online debates about issues
• Virtual elections
• Webquest
• Problem-based learning
• School government

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Health Wellness Literacy

• Understand how to access interpret information
  services to stay healthy
• Understand implement life style choices to stay
  healthy
• Use information to make informed decisions about
  health-related issues
• Understand the impact of healthy living on a
  national international scale

• How?
• Develop a plan to advocate for healthy choices at
  school
• Bring in community experts
• Work with students from across the world to
  investigate health wellness

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Teaching 21st Century Content

• Teach core content early so can build on
  foundational understandings.
• Teach for transfer by contextualizing learning

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TEACHERS FACILITATE LITERACY LEARNING

• Barbara Honchell

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Core Subjects (including reading and language
arts) are a Key to 21st Century Skills

• Voters indicate schools need to enhance
  instruction in the following related areas
• Reading Comprehension
• Problem Solving
• Written Communication
• Oral Communication
• Self-direction
• Public Opinion Strategies and Peter D. Hart
  Associates
• http//www.21stcenturyskills.org/index.php?option
  com_contenttaskviewid369Itemid64

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Bruner states, We teach a subject .to take part
in the process of knowledge-getting. Knowing is a
process, not a product.Toward a Theory of
Instruction, 1966

• While discussing the process of reading and
  writing Clay writes, When we direct our minds
  attention to some object, or some problem, this
  process can be called action taking.
• Change Over Time in Childrens Literacy
  Development, 2001

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An Intervention (such as Reading Recovery) or
Comprehensive Literacy Design based on Clays
Theory Includes Instruction Focused on the
Student Applying Problem Solving Processes to

• Monitor his own reading and writing
• Search for information from many sources
• Check information one source with another
• Discover new things
• Confirm ideas
• Self-correct to solve a problem
  

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Benefits of Early Development of Problem Solving
Processes

• We learn content best by constructing our own
  understandings.
• Each learner takes a different path to common
  outcome i.e. literacy learning.
• Learning that focuses on problem solving results
  in the ability to transfer ways of thinking to
  new settings.

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Clay (1991)indicates that use of language is the
first problem solving system to develop. Thus
expert thinking can and should be developed early
and used often.Becoming literate The
Construction of Inner Control
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TEACHERS FACILITATE LEARNING

• Debbie Powell

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Teachers facilitate learning for their students.

• Understand learning and development of their
  students
• Plan instruction appropriate for their students
• Use a variety of instructional methods
• Integrate and utilize technology in their
  instruction
• Help students develop critical thinking and
  problem-solving skills
• Help students work in teams and develop
  leadership qualities
• Assist students in articulating thoughts and
  ideas clearly and effectively
• Use a variety of methods to assess what each
  student has learned
• NC Profession Teaching Standard IV

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Dispositions Skills for the 21st
CenturyKindergarteners of today are the class
of 2020 and will retire about 2070!

• Information and media literacy skills
• Information and communications technology
  literacy
• Critical-thinking and problem-solving skills
• Innovation skills
• Curiosity, Creativity, and Risk Taking
• Contextual learning skills
• Inventive Thinking
• Higher-Order Thinking and Sound Reasoning

• Leadership
• Personal responsibility
• Ethics
• Social responsibility
• Accountability
• People skills
• Adaptability, Managing
• Complexity, and Self-Direction
• Personal productivity
• Communication skills
• Collaboration skills

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One Small Step

• Service Learning Projects related to environment,
  health, poverty, or global issues
• Reflect on the skills necessary to effectively
  plan and initiate such a project
• Examine ways to bring in critical literacy
  skills, opportunities for writing, opportunities
  for children to develop and arguments supported
  with evidence.

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Service Learning/Project Learning

• http//www.captainplanetfdn.org/aboutUs.html
• http//www.etc.cmu.edu/projects/currentprojects.ph
  p
• http//www.heartsandminds.org/links/greenkids.htm
• http//www.worldrevolution.org/Projects/Webguide/G
  uideMain.asp
• http//my-ecoach.com/online/webresourcelist.php?rl
  id6499
• http//www.globalschoolnet.org/index.cfm
• http//www.kidsforsavingearth.org/programs.html
• http//www.ecomall.com/biz/kidslinks.htm
• http//www.nrdc.org/greensquad/intro/intro_1.asp
• http//teams.lacoe.edu/documentation/projects/proj
  ects.htmlother

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TEACHERS REFLECT ON THEIR PRACTICE

• Kathy Fox Katie Schlichting

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Reflective Practice is about looking forward
rather than backward

• Schons (1983)
• Reflection in, on, and for practice
• Loughrans (1995)
• Reflective framework
• Davis (1996)
• Conversations
• Freese (1999)
• Shared definition, modeling, and video tapes
• Fox, Campbell Hargrove (2008)
• Reflection as a formative tool

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What weve learned about our students

• Teachers and students both state that
  conversations and inner dialogue are their most
  frequent forms of reflection
• Teachers think these are most effective however,
  students think writing is the most effective
• Teachers and students both state they would like
  to use more writing and conversation

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How can reflective practice change to accommodate
new literacies?

• Teacher Blogs-multiple audiences for discussing
  practice
• Electronic Portfolios-increased professional
  writing
• Critical Teaching Protocol-deeper level of
  examination of practice
• Increased level of professionalismvaluing
  conversation

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End Result Reflection for practice

• Examining our teaching in terms of
• formative reflection

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MUST READS!

• Tough Choices or Tough Times by New Commissission
  on Skills of the American Workforce, 2007.
  http//www.skillscommission.org/pdf/exec_sum/Tough
  Choices_EXECSUM.pdf
• Tom Friedmans The World Is Flat, 2005, 2006,
  2007 http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_World_is_Fla
  t for a summary
• 21st Century Partnership, 2004.
  http//www.21stcenturyskills.org/