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Here is a link to the Group Presentation with Voice.

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Designing a 21st Century Curriculum System

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Throughout this quarter I have consistently been returning to the idea of what instructional leadership means within what we are learning about and what the reality of my current position is. As a high school assistant principal, some of my job is managerial. I am handling discipline issues as they arise and some situations can come out of nowhere and take over my perfectly planned out day. The managerial aspect of schools is a necessity as pointed out by Ken Robinson, but it is equally important to continue to be an instructional leader. For me, this quarter has been about connecting what we are learning now about where curriculum can go in the future with Otto Scharmer's work in TheoryU. In my conversations with teachers, it is helpful to listen with an open mind and open heart in order to demonstrate the reflective process. I have spent considerable time on working on asking reflective questions. Questioning is difficult and it helps to know your audience and how you can prompt them to think about their own instructional practices. Above all, I try to lead by example and verbalize my thought process and take instructional risks. I try to always admit when something doesn't go as planned and discuss how I will make adjustments moving forward. Working with people is always a reflective process.

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1. Scholar Academic

2. Social Efficiency

3. Learner-centered

4. Social Reconstruction

What do you believe is best for 21st century students?

I think students should be exposed to all at some point to develop the skills that are addressed with each.  I believe students should learn some of the accumulated knowledge of our culture, but disagree with tracking.  I believe that students need to train students in productive workplace/functional skills so that they can be contributing members of society.
All this said, most importantly, students should be able to grow as individuals and built upon their talents and skills in order to flourish. (Cathy)

After reading Ken Robinson's book and the two Zhao books I can't help but think that our system of education needs to cultivate the unique talents of each student. We have historically spent time trying to get students to be the same and achieve the same results. If they weren't performing the way we expect them to, we spend more time to work on their deficits. As we move forward, we have to look at building the skills that will allow students to leverage their unique skills and abilities in a group setting. When I think about how I function in my job and as a student, rarely do I work alone. I am consistently working collaboratively with my peers and colleagues to develop the best ideas. Our classrooms should, at some point, mirror the expectations of real life and not exist in a vacuum. (Kelly)

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Curiosity is natural to all children and it is the engine to achievement.

If children are natural learners, why do so many of them struggle?

Mass education was built on 2 pillars:  organizational culture & intellectual cultures in schools.

The process of personalization is key!

Must have flexibility within the curriculum

Being in your element is where talent meets passion!

8 competencies:  curiosity, creativity, criticism, communication, collaboration, compassion, composure, & citizenship.

Effective learning is the process of trial and error.

Leadership is about vision; management is about implementation.  Both are essential!

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Email Chain- Reflective Conversation Info.

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This video showed an interview with B.F. Skinner regarding classroom environment and motivators.
He first began saying that teacher's must construct an environment whereby you can keep children under control. He then made reference to "out of control" classrooms where the students were running around that chaos ensued.  I had to giggle at that.
He went on further to explain that teachers need a plan for explicit reinforcement for children whereby you start with a token economy, move to a credit system, and then give positive reinforcement via kind words or a pat on the back. He said the goal is to create an environment where students are controlled by their curriculum and learning innately.
Further, in the interview, Skinner talked about how a strong instructional program has built in reinforcers (opportunities for success) for students.  He then ended by saying that the average student studies to avoid the consequences of not studying.

At first, I thought "This video is so outdated!" but then I gave it a chance and was surprised to see how it does actually pertain to schools today and the behaviors of both teachers and students.

Most classrooms in some way or another have a classroom management program with reinforcers.

The question is- how can we tie in  more intrinsic motivation through personalized learning and inquiry based learning to reinforce learning?

I also thought it was interesting when they discussed the positive consequence of those studying and performing well.

His quote at the end is pretty powerful- it reinforcers the mantra we've been reading about. What are we teaching our students about learning? To fear failure???

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I watched the entire interview with Bill Gates regarding the Common Core. I think inherently there were good ideas and intentions behind creating it, but I did find him to be combative and condescending. I am also a bit leery of someone with no experience in education talking about the best way to educate our kids. He's not wrong when he states that we have room to grow as educators, there's always room for improvement and growth.

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I've really enjoyed the videos and readings for this course and I feel as though they do a good job of complimenting each other and also broadening my perspective on what education is and where it should be.  I remember doing very well in school because I tested very well.  I was able to retain information long enough to answer questions on a text, but what we were taught was in isolation and I have forgotten much of what I "learned" in the K-12 educational system.  I agree whole heartedly about using an inquiry based approach and using project based learning where students are working collaboratively to solve a real world problem.

If the purpose of education is to prepare students for what comes next in their lives, we have to take a deeper look at what those skills are that will help our students be successful later.  Those include (as Heidi mentioned) critical thinking, problem-solving, perseverance, collaboration, and communication.  With the standards based movement we have spent a lot of time drilling down to the grandular level what students should know and be able to do, but I think we have lost sight of the big picture.

This is not to say that we should abandon standards, but there are creative ways within the structure of the K-12 system for students to produce real learning and understanding and be able to transfer those skills/ knowledge to other contexts. and to learn skills within context. I bake often with my children (6 and 7 year old boys) and we do work with fractions all the time. Either I'm doubling or halving a recipe and we need to adjust measurements or my 1 cup measure is dirty so now I'm working with a 1/2 cup measure. My 7 year old is able to do the math because it is in context and he is able to work with and manipulate physical items. Would he be able to do it on a worksheet? Probably not.

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Working in a Virtual School, I believe education has to be personalized. The future is changing rapidly and our most valuable resources are in the curiosity and ability of our students, we just need to foster it and help it grow. Facilitate not lecture... Show them passion and let their love for learning grow!

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This reminds me of the Steve Wozniak Video and encouraging students to learn through creativity. We don't know what the future holds, and we can't predict the future of jobs, technology or what the need of the job market will be. We we can do it focus on the skills that students need to learn and their ability to apply them beyond the classroom.

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When I think about the November video/ideas, I recall a presentation I participated in by George Couros. ..He touched on the ideas that alot of what we do in the classroom that we think is "teaching" is really just stuff kids can look up on the internet...his challenge to teachers is to make the learning "real" by adding inquiry and problem-solving, not just fact look-up and recall.  This is the future (or, the NOW) of what classrooms need to be.

In the Darling video, while I love to look overseas for inspiration and awesome ideas for instruction, I tend to be a bit pessimistic because our society as a whole is set up so differently from these examples.  These places seem to have really solid systems in place to support learning, both in the community and in the schools.  In order for us as educational administrators to make these changes, a complete overhaul of what we know to be true in education needs to change. I'm willing if you all are :)

In short...problem-solving, critical thinking, and perseverance. These are the skills we need to focus on, but only after a solid curriculum is in place to act as a guide for teachers and students.

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I feel as though the speaker is correct in that we don't have enough inquiry and investigation in the classroom. That being said, I disagree with the fact that we may have to reteach a topic. I believe this has to be done sometimes because the developmental stage of a child might be able to handle info on a topic in stages.

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Love this video! She has new and exciting ideas for the 21st century classroom!

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I like Alan November's book, but found this video to be rather flat. He mentions that technology is not the driving force, but in a 21st century classroom, that is the tool being used. We have to embrace that and facilitate learning around those skills. I find it outdated to ignore instructional technology.

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He focuses on the culture of teaching and learning

It's about the locus of control of the learning in the classroom.

Teachers often use the traditional transfer model for teaching and learning instead of being facilitators.  Being a facilitator is much harder!

Are we giving kids assignments that were made before the internet?  Can they just look up the answers and not learn from the assignment?

We need to focus on redesigning our assignments and projects in an age of connectivity.

Myth- digital natives know what they're doing.  Students are too overly confident and they need teachers to guide them.

Give open-ended problems for students to design and solve.

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Kayla Scheer- On Demand Learning in the 21st Century Classroom:

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Kayla Scheer- On Demand Learning in the 21st Century Classroom:

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An example was given about giving a kid a new smart phone...would he read the owner's manual?  Of course not!  So, why are we still teaching with the owner's manual?

If the assignment is intriguing and competitive enough, the students will do it.

Are we letting our students explore and play in their learning?

Students want learning at their fingertips- when it's not, they are disengaged.  Example- Think about how you learn...if you have a leaky faucet, do you read a textbook?  Or- do you look up a video on Youtube to fix it?  On demand learning!!!

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She discusses that the US is ranked 35/40 in math and 39/40 in science on the PISA exam.

Other high performing countries focus on higher order thinking skills and do not use multiple choice tests.  Also their focus in inquiry and investigation

Quote:  "We end up reteaching the same thing over and over again, year after year, because we didn't stop and do it well and deeply and a moment in time.  Ie.  Fractions are taught in 3, 4, 5 grades and sometimes M.S.

In the example above, the speaker says that in many countries they spend a 1/4 of the year on one topic.

Finland:  They are one of the top performing countries.  They train their teachers well (3 yrs of grad school), use project-based learning, use a lot of investigation, and reflection is mandatory.

Teachers in higher performing countries are paid the same as engineers and often get 25 hours to plan for the classroom.  Morale is high because they also shape the curriculum they teach and have time to collaborate with their peers.