BY GIUSEPPE BELLANTONE

Education in the 21st Century

There is no use trying; one can't believe impossible things." (Alice)

"I dare say you haven't had much practice. When I was your age, I always did it for half an hour a day. Why, sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.” -Queen

Like Alice, many educators, policy makers and even the general public respond resoundingly with "That's impossible!" when challenged to adopt a new archetype that of education for the 21st century that will suit the needs of our growing youngsters.. Most people today adhere to a model of education that is strictly 19th century. But, like the Queen, a growing number of educators are believing in and accomplishing "the impossible".

Our Purpose

Our jobs as professional educators is to take education truly into the 21st century. It is not enough to say that we are already living there. Technically it is the 21st century, but our schools are not there yet. We are in many ways still thinking in the 19th century terms for many of the ideals still used to toady were hatched at the time of the industrial revolution

So what is 21st century education?

It is bold. It breaks the unwritten rules set by the out-dated pieties of a bygone generation. It is flexible, creative, challenging, and complex. It addresses a rapidly changing world filled with fantastic new problems as well as exciting new possibilities

‘You don’t change performance without changing the instructional core. The relationship of the teacher and student in the presence of content must be at the centre of all efforts to improve performance.’(Elmore 2007)

CONTENT

TEACHERSTUDENT

(Diagram from Cohen and Loewenberg, 2001)

The 21st Century

The new millennium was ushered in by a dramatic technological revolution. We now live in an increasingly diverse, globalized, and complex, media-saturated society.

According to Dr. Douglas Kellner at UCLA this technological revolution will have a greater impact on society than the transition from an oral to a print culture. From a physical learning environment to what is fast becoming a virtual learning environment.

The challenge

Today's kindergarten children will be retiring in the year 2072. We have no idea of what the world will look in five years, much less 60 years, yet we are charged with preparing our students for life in that world. Our students are facing many emerging issues such as global warming, famine, poverty, health issues, a global population explosion and other environmental and social issues. These issues lead to a need for students to be able to communicate, function and create change personally, socially, economically and politically on local, national and global levels.

Even kindergarten children can make a difference in the world by participating in real-life, real-world service learning projects.

You're never too young, or too old, to make your voice heard and create change that makes the world a better place.

Skills for students in the 21st century

In 2012 there is a critical need for developing

21st century skills.

However, I believe that authentic education addresses the “whole child”, the “whole person”, and does not limit our professional development and curriculum design to workplace readiness.

21st century skills learned through our curriculum,

They are: interdisciplinary, integrated, project-based, and are learned within a project-based curriculum by utilizing

Critical Thinking and Problem Solving

Collaboration across Networks and Leading by Influence Agility and Adaptability Initiative and Entrepreneurialism Effective Oral and Written Communication Accessing and Analysing Information Curiosity and Imagination

One of our goals is to help students become technologically friendly and truly global citizens. In many countries today’s students are referred to as “digital natives”, and today’s educators as “digital immigrants”. Teachers are working with students whose entire lives have been immersed in the 21st century media culture. Today’s students are digital learners – they literally take in the world via the filter of computing devices: mobile phones, handheld gaming devices, tablets and laptops they take everywhere, plus the computers, TVs, and game consoles at home.

A survey in the United states found that young people (ages 8-18) mainline electronic media for more than six hours a day, on average. •Many are multitasking – listening to music while surfing the Web or instant-messaging friends while playing a video game.

•Even toddlers utilize multimedia devices and the Internet with tools such as handheld video Pre-schoolers (including my 4-year-old son) easily navigate these electronic, multimedia resources on games in which they learn about colours, numbers, letters, spelling, and more complex tasks such as mixing basic colours to create new colours, problem-solving activities, and reading.

•

today’s students understand how to access and utilize these tools, many of them are used for entertainment purposes only, the students are not truly media literate. By that I mean – researching, analysing, synthesizing, critiquing, evaluating and creating new knowledge!

The School”, “ The Teacher”, “The Learner” and “The

National Curriculum” for the 21st Century

How should education be structured to meet the needs of students in this 21st century world? How do we now define “School”, “Teacher” “Learner” and "Curriculum"?

Schools in the 21st century should be laced with a project-based curriculum for developing life skills.

•They should be aimed at engaging students in addressing real-world problems, issues important to humanity, and questions that matter.

•This is a dramatic departure from the factory-model education of the past. It is abandonment, finally, of textbook-driven, teacher-centred, paper and pencil schooling.

• It means a new way of understanding the concept of “knowledge”, a new definition of the “educated person”. A new way of designing and delivering the curriculum is required.

We offer the following new definitions for “School”, “Teacher” and “Learner” appropriate for the 21st century:

Schools should go from ‘buildings’ to ‘learning centres', with walls that are porous and transparent, connecting teachers, students and the community to the wealth of knowledge that exists in the world.”

The changing roles of learner and teacher.

Teacher From a primary role as a dispenser of information to orchestrator of learning and helping students turn information into knowledge, and knowledge into wisdom. The 21st century will require knowledge generation, not just information delivery, and schools will need to create a “culture of inquiry”.

. Learner

In the past a learner was a young person who went to school, spent a specified amount of time in certain courses, received good grades and graduated. Today we must see learners in a newer & much different context.

1. First – we must maintain student interest by helping them see how & what they are learning prepares them for life in the

real world.

2. Second – we must instil curiosity, which is fundamental to lifelong learning.

3. Third – we must be flexible in how we teach. In other words-look for the teachable moment!

4. Fourth – we must excite learners to become even more resourceful so that they will continue to learn outside the actual school day.”

Administrators & policy makers need to ask themselves:

How does a teacher achieve this newer context?

1.What will these schools look like, exactly?

2. How will this 21st century curriculum be organized, and how will it impact the way we design and build schools, how we assess students, how we purchase resources, how we acquire and utilize the new technologies?

3.How will this 21st century curriculum be organized, and how will it impact the way we design and build schools, how we assess students, how we purchase resources, how we acquire and utilize new technologies that are becoming more accessible to our young?

3 Key Questions need to be answered

Imagine a School where:• –are so excited about school that they can hardly wait to

get there.

• little or no “discipline problems” because the students are so engaged in their studies that those problems disappear

• parents call, sending notes, or come up to the school to tell you about the dramatic changes they are witnessing in their children:

• There is a newly found enthusiasm and excitement for school, a desire to work on projects, research and write after school and on weekends.

The 20th Century Classroom vs. The 21st Century Classroom

1960’s typical classroom in Western Australia teacher-centred, fragmented curriculum, students working in isolation, memorizing facts.

1960’s typical classroom in Western Australia teacher-centred, fragmented curriculum, students working in isolation, memorizing facts.

TIME BASED

Focus: memorization of discrete facts

Textbook-driven

Lessons focus on the lower level of Bloom’s Taxonomy – knowledge, comprehension and application.

Lets look at Blooms Taxonomy -2 slides up

Innovative Technology in Schools conference (held Australia wide in 2011)Range of flexible seating and working arrangements, (with lots of round tables, leather couches and beanbags. )large plasma TV screens around the room where groups could gather and share. power boards on every table, reliable open Wi-Fi, and a wiki server for participants to create collaborative digital workspaces on demand. OUTCOME BASEDResearch-drivenFocus: what students Know, Can Do and Are Like after all the details are forgotten.Learning is designed on upper levels of Blooms’ – synthesis, analysis and evaluation (and include lower levels as curriculum is designed down from the top.)

Blooms taxonomy- Analyisis,Synthesis,Evaluation

The qualities between the 20th century classroom & the ideal 21st

classroom

…is that one style fosters passive learning while the other is active in its execution.

Passive learning Learners work in isolation – classroom within 4 walls Teacher-centred: teacher is centre of attention and provider of information Little to no student freedom to express opinion. “Discipline problems" – educators do not trust students and vice versa. No

student motivation. Fragmented curriculum Grades averaged Low expectations Teacher is judge. No one else sees student work. Curriculum/School is irrelevant and meaningless to the students. Print is the primary vehicle of learning and assessment. Diversity in students is ignored. Literacy is the 3 R’s – reading, writing and maths Factory model, based upon the needs of employers for the Industrial Age of the

19th century. Scientific management. Driven by the NAPLAN and standardized testing mania.

Active Learning Learners work collaboratively with classmates and others around the world –

the Global Classroom Student-centred: teacher is facilitator/coach Great deal of student freedom (Guided Discovery method, Web quests etc…) Few or No “discipline problems” – students and teachers have mutually

respectful relationship as co-learners; students are highly motivated. Integrated and Interdisciplinary curriculum. Results based on what was learned High expectations – “If it isn’t good it isn’t done.” We expect, and ensure,

that all students succeed in learning at high levels. Some may go higher – we get out of their way to let them do that.

Self, Peer and Other assessments. Public audience, authentic assessments. Curriculum is connected to students’ interests, experiences, talents and the

real world. Performances, projects and multiple forms of media are used for learning

and assessment Curriculum and instruction address student diversity Multiple literacies of the 21st century – aligned to living and working in a

globalized new millennium. Global model, based upon the needs of a globalized, high-tech society. Standardized testing has its place. Education is not driven by the NAPLAN and

standardized testing mania.

So what is an ideal 21st Century curriculum?   It is interdisciplinary, project-based, and research-driven.  It is connected to the community – local, state, national and global.  (e.g. Mathletics) Sometimes students are collaborating with people around the world in various projects.  The curriculum incorporates higher order thinking skills (problem solving for real life issues) , multiple intelligences, technology and multimedia, the multiple literacies of the 21st century, and authentic assessments.  Service learning is an important component.  The classroom is expanded to include the greater community.  Students are self-directed, and work both independently and interdependently.  The curriculum and instruction are designed to challenge all students, and provides for differentiation.  The curriculum is thematic, project-based and integrated.   Skills and content are not taught as an end in themselves, but students learn them through their research and application in their projects.  Textbooks, if they have them, are just one of many resources.  Knowledge is not memorization of facts and figures, but is constructed through research and application, and connected to previous knowledge, personal experience, interests, talents and passions.  The skills and content become relevant and needed as students require this information to complete their projects.  The content and basic skills are applied within the context of the curriculum, and are not ends in themselves.  Assessment moves from regurgitation of memorized facts and disconnected processes to demonstration of understanding through application in a variety of contexts.  Real-world audiences are an important part of the assessment process, as is self-assessment.   

What does all this mean for the design and re-building schools

under the Building Education Revolution (BER)Project? 

Define (B.E.R) (History repeating itself from 1963) There is no “one size fits all”, or “one style fits all” blueprint. Each school should be

designed with the students and the goals of the school and community in mind. These designs stay away from the traditional, design which has students isolated in small

classrooms. Those school facilities were designed for the emerging industrial age of the 19th century, and were based on a factory model and scientific management system. There are many excellent examples of new schools being designed and built which support the kind of curriculum and instruction briefly described above.

First of all, these designs takes into account the kind of spaces needed by students and teachers as they conduct their investigations and implement their projects. Spaces will be needed for large groups, small groups and for independent work. There should be plenty of wall space and other areas for displaying student work. This includes a place where the parents and community can gather to watch student performances as well as a place where they can meet for discussions.

Examples of 21st Century classrooms

Open Plan

Collaborative classroom layout one

Collaborative layout two

The Global classroom

•In order for our students to be prepared to work in these new surroundings: •they must become literate in 21st century literacies, including multicultural, media, information, emotional, ecological, financial and cyber literacies. •Collaborating with students from in meaningful, real-life projects is a necessary tool for developing these literacies. • Students can learn that through collaboration, not competition, they can work together to make the world a better place. •Students will use technologies, including the Internet, and global collaboration to solve critical issues

Technology & use in the 21sr Century

What about technology resources? First of all, technologies are not an end in themselves; technologies are tools

students use to create knowledge and to create personal and social change. There should be full access to technology. If students do not have

computers or access to the Internet at home, there should be a way to provide them. If we can, we should obtain laptops for every student and teacher. Buildings will need to be wired in such a way that students can access their files, as well as the Internet, from anywhere in the school. Various labs and learning centres should be set up around the school. Art, music, theatre, television, radio and film studios can be created with relatively small expenditures. All classrooms should have televisions to watch broadcasts created by their school as well as by other schools in the district. (Discuss Radio Club)

I believe there are definitely resources available which will allow us to eventually create these opportunities for all schools and children.

Curriculum design –Continually looking for a teachable moment! In order for our students to be prepared to navigate this, they must become literate in

21st century literacies, including multicultural, media, information, emotional, ecological, financial and cyber literacies.

Collaborating with students from around the world in meaningful, real-life projects is a necessary tool for developing these literacies. Students can learn that through collaboration, not competition, they can work together to make the world a better place.

Students will use technologies, including the Internet, and global collaboration to solve critical issues

When I design a unit I begin with a theme. Then I brainstorm, or concept map, the theme. I also begin outlining my ideas by creating a PowerPoint slide show on the theme. You can see a beginning level concept map as well as my PowerPoint on The Beatles. This event is most definitely a teachable moment!

So how do I teach in this 21st Century

The Beatles (Yr.7 theme)

FocusWithin this unit of study we will develop our listening and appraising skills by listening to a variety of music by the Beatles and through the cartoon film 'Yellow Submarine'. We will extend our understanding of the influence they have had on music since the 1960s. We shall learn to play one song with particular notice to chords and riffs, including chord sequences, primary chords and inversions. A class performance for recording will be produced.

• Identify different Beatles songs

• Develop aural awareness

• Respond to and evaluate their music and the influence they had on others

• Respond to and evaluate the influences upon them - Indian Music

• Produce a class performance of a Beatles song (Eleanor Rigby)

• Play chord sequences with knowledge and awareness of the primary chords and inversions

• Play a riff part

• Plan and rehearse performances for recording

Students will learn to:

The student will practically demonstrate

Knowledge of the members of the band and their works

Knowledge of the musical influences

Understanding and awareness of social, cultural and historical influences

Good listening skills and application of theory - chord work

The ability to work well on your own and with others in performance work

The ability to perform chord/riff and melody parts

The ability to fit part with others in class performance

But technological advances into the 21st century will mean nothing if the quality of teacher nurturing individuality is

stuck in the 19th .

Research shows that staff training often does not change teachingA review of research carried out by Joyce and Showers shows that the traditional model of staff training has no effect on the classroom practice of the participants. Despite this fatal blow the old staff-training model staggers on in many colleges; but if teaching is to improve we must first change our training practice

Some findings in Joyce and Showers Research What the teacher THINKS about teaching determines what the teacher does when teaching

Teachers are likely to keep and use new strategies and concepts if they receive COACHING Competent teachers with high SELF-ESTEEM usually benefit more from training

Individual teaching styles do not often affect teachers' abilities to learn from staff development Initial enthusiasm for training is reassuring to the organisers but has relatively little influence upon learning What does matter is the TRAINING DESIGN not where it's done or who does it.

B Showers et al 'Synthesis of research on staff development' Educational Leadership (Nov 1987)

What does this mean?

Clearly, a curriculum should not packaged for other educators to replicate. The curriculum have relevance to one's community-every community is different The teacher must also have the skills and resources to do the job.(Discuss) Our growth as teachers in the 21st century mirrors the very thing that you all do as heart

sup[port counsellors. That there is a `spirit' we have available to us, is directly related to the risks we are prepared to take in our work.

Building a community Reaching out to and creating connections with a community of colleagues, children, families,

and others in the neighbourhood helps to sustain our passion and spirit as a teacher. It is amazing that if you look in your community you will find the information, resources, and support needed to do the work.

The village project

One example of the community building work at this school is the `Village Project' developed by Denise Fogleman (2000).

Stretching over a school year, each of the 14 classrooms builds a business based on teacher and student interests and their collective explorations of the neighbourhood. To research the materials and skills they will need, the children draw on business people as `consultants' and participate in field visits to local services such as a nearby TV repair shop. Licences are applied for, job resumes submitted, a bank issues student designed currency, and the children create business cards and advertisements.

On Market Day the entire school comes together as children operate and visit their businesses (a library, a TV station, a bakery, and others) along with adults invited from the neighbourhood. The energy of 300 children connected by a common sense of purpose and competence provides a dramatic image of how powerful a community can be in children's lives and how, as a result, teachers can be inspired to enter into their work with renewed commitment and vigour (Fogleman, 2000). As this project has evolved over the past five years, the dangers of moving into an embalmed curriculum--replicating identical activities each year--are more than evident. The opportunities for children's input and direction vary from teacher to teacher. What has become clear, though, is that those teachers who are able to connect with the creativity of the children and the vitality of the neighbourhood are encouraged to take on this enormous undertaking with considerable verve and enthusiasm.

Conclusion

In the final analysis, the spirit we need to teach is nourished by acting out of love, hope, and respect for the children, their families, and those around them. This is the thing that we cannot regulate, legislate, or standardize.

The professional development of teachers will need to embrace a deepened understanding of the difficult challenges to be faced in this profession.

As educators we must seek to be guided by an image of the child and ourselves that is grounded in competence and potential.

Teachers must be driven by a deep curiosity with childhood. In other words We must bring our lives into the classroom in authentic ways. Teachers in the 21st century must take risks in teaching, including moving into unfamiliar

cultural territory. Finally, we must seek to draw on and strengthen the circles of community that radiate

from our programs for children.

Thank you

References

Cronin, S. (1996). Teaching Umoja. Seattle: Author.

Curtis, D., & Carter, M. (2000). The art of awareness: How observation can transform your teaching. St. Paul, MN: Redleaf Press.