Twenty-First Century Schools Committee

I’m attending a conference(Internet Librarian) and Joel, Paula, and I are also attending the Tech Forum conference on Friday in Austin.  I’m going to be posting some blog entries “live”from both conferences on our Technology committee’s blog if you’d like to hear updates about what we are learning.  So click on the link for the Technology Visionary blog to read them.  (www.vision.edublogs.org)

The conference is set by the ocean in Monterey, Ca., and since arriving, I’ve been thinking about the things we’ve talked about on the committee about students taking time to see the stars and nature.   I think providing ways for our students to slow down and process ideas is also part of the vision we should have of the future, because in this “high tech” environment, it is easy for all of us to get caught up in the speed of things and not stop and look at the “tide pools of life” in a close, reflective way.   Being here reminds me of the need to provide our students depth as well as breadth.

  view of a tide pool

More later.  Carolyn

Here are some tips for using our blogs!

By the way, I am trying out some new “looks” for the blog until we find one that is easy to use, so if the “appearance” changes, don’t worry about it!

To post a comment, locate the comment button, usually found at the bottom of the article.  (It may say “no comments” if no one has commented, or “3 comments,” etc.–but if you click on it, it will prompt you to login. )

Once you log in, you can type your comment in the box provided.  If you have a website you want to recommend, you can either type in the web address within your comment, or copy and paste the link into your comments.

We have four blogs, one per committee.  There is a link for each on the right toolbar.

The blogs are:

www.trends.edublogs.org   Research Committee

www.visionary.edublogs.org  Technology Committee

www.campus.edublogs.org   Site Visit Committee

www.communities.edublogs.org   Business, College, and Community Committee

Writing a blog entry: 

Think of a blog entry like a written comment on something.  Just as you speak aloud in the committee meeting to share your thoughts, in the blog, you write your thoughts down.

You can “lurk” which means just reading the comments to think about, or you can post a response, or a new comment.

I hope this helps all of you a little with navigating!

Our subcommittees brainstormed characteristics for the “future graduate,” so we can consider ways to keep “our train on the right track” for the future.

Community, Business, and College Committee

• Virtual learning–experiencing immediately what students in other places are experiencing
• Ability to know that there is a rhythm to life and we need to teach that
• Ability to communicate and socialize with others one to one and in groups;  “reading others” face to face (Facebook and other social networking sites don’t necessarily encourage this).
• Want the 2017 graduate to stop and be able to lay in the grass and look at the stars
• Follow the passion;  how do we ignite kids?
• How do we balance requirements with creativity? (Chinese example of students being able to follow their passion and path from a younger age)  Create students who don’t feel burdened; need for balance

Research Committee

• need for high ethical standards
• critical thinking skills; ability to think outside the box, creative problem solving
• integrative thinking
• ability to take creative risks
• ability to learn from mistakes and permission to make mistakes
• technologically literate/adaptive(fluent)
• support for teachers as creative “risk” takers
• form and function;  process and product;  ability for technical reading/writing
• mentoring/networking; kids into the community and other experiences and partnerships
• collaborative

Technology committee

• shrinking world; expansion of opportunities for learning
• 24/7 learning
• ubiquitous learning
• global culture and workplace
• multi-language learning?  does technology make language learning more or less important?  what about cultural values?
• changed school day and year
• impact on students’ social skills
• constant global connections
• collaborative group learning
• effect on common culture, and what is our common culture now?

I saw there were already some good questions on the previous post(below).

This new thread can be for helpful articles that you find as a committee and want to share with everyone else.

I’ll start it off with a link to Education Sector, which has a nice report on the status of high school reform movements.  I thought it might be helpful to your group! 

http://www.educationsector.org/research/research_show.htm?doc_id=362537#mpreport

Share other links here as well.   

(from Carolyn, peeking over from the Technology committee)