Tech Savvy Tweens

I am not tech savvy.  I am regularly outsmarted by the tech and apps that I try to use on a weekly... daily basis.  I would like to claim that I am getting better.  That the old girl can learn a new trick, but that might just be some high reaching, wishful thinking.

But what isn't wishful thinking and who are tech savvy are the kids that are growing up in today's world.  They know their stuff!

And they can totally beat you in MineCraft. 

Kids of today are 21st Century students who are using and mastering 21st Century Skills.  

As educators we should learn with them and provide lessons that will teach them and prepare them for the future as well as interest them... as much as MineCraft.

How can we help and engage the 21st Century student?

Integrate 21st Century interdisciplinary themes into core subjects -

• non-examples (old way of doing things):
• Teaching students one subject content at a time.  
• Discussing exploration, but only looking at a historical example and how the events took place, i.e.Columbus' discovery of America
• proper examples:
• using a board theme that can carry across all subjects and tie in learning under that one topic.
• Looking at exploration -
• Student would have to learn about and research the HISTORY of various exploration journeys and who, what, how and why they happened. 
• Teachers could ask students to calculate (MATH) the distance from the starting destination to final point or the time it took to travel from one place to the other.
• Students could investigate the know elements (CHEMISTRY/BOTANY/SCIENCE) on various  ecosystems and how certain crops where able to grow in one place and not another.
• Additionally, students could write a story (LANGUAGE ARTS) about what life might be like if they discovered a new civilization.

*Great video to watch from Pear Tree Education, Inc. (2013) -> here

Integrate the 4Cs (creativity, critical thinking/problem solving, communication, collaboration) into instruction -

• non-examples:
• Students working alone to make signs/posters to convey information on a given topic or theme that they only research through textbook based information or what was learned in class.
• examples: 
• Small group Literature Circles using the 4Cs
• Literature Circles in Action (Polizzi, 2012)

*A great source of information can be viewed here on Common Sense Education's YouTube page

Integrate the use of technology to help students access, manage, and use information in an ethical manner, and create media products -

• non-examples:
• Tech classes that teach only typing or one isolated function of technology
• examples:
• Design and extension of creativity through the assistance of apps and programs.
• Using the internet to extend research to a Global reach while developing skills that will come into play later on at university.
• Sharing of ideas through social media to collaborate and reach new people/gain new insights.
• Promote critical thinking through the use of news media, polls, more advanced terminology and references, and having students evaluate the ethics and implications of what is accessible online.

Students of tomorrow need to be ready for a changing world. 

"This Framework describes the skills, knowledge and expertise students must master to succeed in work and life; it is a blend of content knowledge, specific skills, expertise and literacies" (P21, 2015).