Diigo Library

Check out my Diigo library.

Reflection

(1) At what age can online/digital literacy activities be integrated into the classroom? (2) What is a 21st Century Learning Environment? (3) How can you cultivate at least one of the 21st century skills in your current/future classroom?

1-    I believe online or digital literacy activities can be integrated into any classroom, regardless of the age of the students. So much of what happens in the world today involves technology, and the sooner students are exposed to and comfortable with technology the better. For example, I could see a preschool class using a simple camcorder, such as a Flip camera to record science experiments, children acting out a play, teachers reading a story, etc. All of these things could be used to extend learning by incorporating technology into the classroom. For more ideas, check out this teacher’s homepage. I could see an early elementary class blogging with the help of a teacher, just as I plan to have my 1^st grade students blog shout-outs to each other and post story problems for their classmates to answer.

2-    According to the Partnership for 21^st Century Skills, a 21^st century learning environment is a “system of systems” (  ) that supports the teaching of 21^st century skills, encourages educators to collaborate and share best practices, and enables students to learn in a relevant real-world context. This “environment” can be an actual place, like a classroom or coffee shop, or a virtual place, like a blog or online community. If the environment is an actual place, it would best be described as designed for flexibility. It is impossible to say what the best set-up for a classroom you’ve never seen and students you’ve never met will be, so the space should be as flexible and rearrangeable as possible.

3-    One of the 21^st century skills mentioned in the article we read for class is Communication and Collaboration, specifically to communicate clearly. The Partnership for 21^st Century Skills provides a framework to help educators integrate these skills into their teaching. Part of communicating clearly is defined as, “Articulate thoughts and ideas effectively using oral, written, and nonverbal communication skills in a variety of forms” and, “Utilize multiple media and technologies, and know how to judge their effectiveness.”  See the Framework yourself here. Obviously, communication is an extremely important skill. One way I could see integrating technology into teaching this skill is to have my class create digital stories on the solar system. The entire class could be split into small groups, and each group could create a digital story about one of the planets or the sun. By creating the digital stories, students would need to use multiple forms of technology, including digital cameras, scanners, and computers. The students could also create an online survey that would serve as an electronic pre and post test to assess their classmates’ knowledge on their topic.

Feedback Survey for my digital story

Click the link to take the survey and offer honest feedback. Thanks!

Digital Story

Check out my digital story on tigers. I hope you love it!

Feedback survey

Click here to go to the feedback survery for my digital story on tigers. Please be honest!