Blog Assignment # 4

-What was this activity like for you?-

This activity caused me to think about my own approach towards 21st century learning and what steps I am currently taking to elevate my student’s level of consciousness with regards to this 21^st century skills and global competiveness.  I find that as educators we are at an advantage in that we are already lifelong learners and that we value progression and innovation.  The question now is how do we model that to our students? As discussed in my group we need to find better ways of motivating, promoting and fostering 21^st century skills in our classrooms. I find that this activity was effective in that we collaborated and thought as 21^st century teachers.  

-Would it have been easier or harder for your group to “elevate” its own questions? Why?-

The assignment called for collaboration and critiquing; we were to read a group’s questions and elevate them to a higher category on Bloom Taxonomy. We found that as a group we found it harder to elevate our peer’s questions because we tried to find meaning behind them.  I think that our mistake was in trying to answer the questions and then rephrasing it in a way that elicits a higher order response.   

-What did you get out of it?-

This activity actually modeled my Professional Learning Community, PLC in my district.  As a facilitator in my PLC I am often caught asking questions that call for higher order responses.  I think that we are at an age where we need to keep our teachers activity thinking about better ways to improve themselves and their teaching practices.  Given the opportunity, teachers can foster a collaborative environment where we think about the best practices, research and skills to apply to our classrooms.

-What connections do you see between this activity and educational leadership?-

I think that as future school leaders, we need to foster better ways of promoting 21^st century skills. Most importantly we need to realize that we need to be active promoters of technology and 21^st century skills.

Bloom and the Digital Age

As educators we are all familiar with Benjamin Bloom and his taxonomy on adolescent higher thinking orders.  Bloom uses six levels of learning, which he categorized from simplest to most complex to domains of learning.  On Bloom’s six levels the learner “climbs up the latter” and becomes increasingly aware of his understanding of the subject matter.  Educators and school administrators use Bloom’s Taxonomy in administering better forms of assessments, lesson planning and methodology.  The taxonomy has become an integral part of Education worldwide.

Andrew Church in this 2008 article entitled, Bloom's Taxonomy Blooms Digitally, revolutionized education.   Church revised Bloom’s Taxonomy to better fit the modern world and it's changing student populace.   Educators realize that we are living in a technological age and thus our students are thinking in a technological way.  Church revised Bloom’s original six categories and used nouns instead of verbs to describe the high order thinking skills.   Church demonstrates a complete understanding and appreciation to the digital age and the role education will play in it.

I have personally attended one of Alan November’s workshops on 21^st Century Skills.  In his video entitled Myths and Opportunities of Technology in the Classroom; November discusses some of the ways in which we can motivate students in becoming active participants in the 21^st Century Classroom.  November’s first thought on the matter is a fact that is becoming very prevalent, that is that schools are not thinking on a global perspective.   The world is changing and technology is allowing the modern world to be innovative and progressive.   Public schools need to mirror this.   As educators, we need to better prepare our students by allowing them to think about the world head.   In an age were most inner city students do not travel outside of their counties, yet alone state, having schools operate on a more global network will allow these students to better excel in the 21^st Century.  Furthermore November makes a note to Hitler’s actions towards the Bauhaus Schools in Germany and how they were the center for interdisciplinary education and preeminent flow of ideas in Europe until their downfall.   November mentions that American Schools should operate on this and makes a case in that schools are not allowing students to think critically.  This fits perfectly with Church’s revised taxonomy in that the higher order critical thinking skills are a prerequisite to the digital age.

Professor Zhao, in the video entitled No Child Left Behind and Global Competitiveness, argues that allowing students to take charge of their own education will enable them to be better prepared for the digital age.  Furthermore Zhao argues that lessening state and national requirements is the first step.  Zhao says that American schools are not advancing because we are turning our students into lower level left-brain workers.  We need to allow our students to use higher order thinking skills to better prepare them for the world.  Education should be relevant to the times and should allow students to think in terms of advancement and less on standardization.  Connecting this video to Church’s taxonomy, what is relevant is the information age and the developing of a digital age.  If we shift gears and begin preparing our students for the digital age, we will have new learners using right-brain thinking. 

It's a Flat World After All--After Thoughts

THOUGHTS:

I enjoyed reading Friedman’s article, “It’s a Flat World After All”, though I honestly cannot say this information is new to me.  I think that every conscious and well-informed American can safely conclude that we have come a long way since the cotton gin and the age of simple machines.  Technology has and will always continue to revolutionize America; the question now is, are we conscious enough to know America is no longer the center of attention or leader when it comes to technology?   I think Freidman’s piece serves as a wake up call to most Americans as they will begin to not only see, but also experience how technology is changing the world.  I personally have enjoyed a life of technological innovations, iphone, Macbook, ipad, SmartBoard etc...but I am more enthusiastic to continue to enjoy a life of technological innovations made possible by this flattening of the world.

The world is no longer flat, not literally of course but figuratively. I completely agree with Freidman in that technology is opening doors and “leveling the playing field”.  Technology is creating and giving opportunities to many of the world’s unaccounted and disregarded geniuses.  Due to social economics status and other debilitating yet contributing factors, many gifted individuals are not able to put their talents to good use.  Instead, their smarts are being wasted away. This is no longer going to be the case.  Think of the world as an open portal with no barriers, a whiz kid in Indian will now be able to compete with his/her equal in the US, Germany, China and the Dominican Republic to name the least. I think this is a great advancement, when most Americans are afraid or even worst unaware of this new change, I say BRING IT ON, for I will reap the rewards.

QUESTION:

After reading Friedman’s piece I wonder, how can we cope with the grim reality that we Americans need to be more conscientious about new age technology? The reason as to why I pose this question is because this article is clearly written for a specific audience. The reality is that most Americans are not thinking about how technology is changing our society and most importantly how technology is bringing competition right to our doorstep.  I do not think it takes a genius to know that this awakening needs to begin in our classrooms.

RECOMMENDATION:

$$$.  In a time where the average American family is facing hard economical times, I think that most us would like to know, how could this flattened world make us money? Can governments invest in new forms of technology and the expertise of foreigners to reel in the big bucks?