21st Century Skills and The Vocational World

Did you know traditional "Vocational/Technical" programs have changed their official name to "Career and Technical Education" (CTE)? Some folks are probably saying, "It's been that way for years, idiot!" (I actually know this, having worked in a school district for six years now - HONESTLY!) But it's important to recognize that the name isn't the only change as of late; folks are now taking a hard look at how to best structure these CTE programs to benefit not only students who wish to head straight to work after high school, but also to prepare students for a career track that will continue through college and beyond.
Here in ACSD 14, we have the opportunity to revamp our CTE programs prior to opening a new high school and community college complex.
As a member of the CTE Program Advisory Council, I was fortunate to attend an expert panel discussion last week, during which several distinguished business leaders from the metro-Denver region helped define the "employability skills" we need to instill in our students before they leave our schools.
Here's a sample of said skills/qualities:

• effective communication
• critical thinking
• multi-tasking
• teamwork
• tech-savvy
• work ethic
• trustworthiness
• trainability
• cultural awareness

While no member of the panel actually mentioned the term "21st Century Skills", it sure looks like a list of all the things global learners exemplify. Another hot topic was the ability of students to locate reliable information and apply it in the real world. As reliable information is completely circumstantial, doesn't this mean we need to reexamine our internet policies? Should we really work so hard and spend so much money establishing elaborate filtration systems, rather than teaching and monitoring responsible internet use?

In addition, every panelist stressed the importance of creating a culture of excellence and setting high expectations. I couldn't agree more. Here's a great quote from Charles Maldonado, an executive at Denver International Airport: "You wanna be cutting edge, sharpen your skill set." We live in a world of instant gratification, and it's hard for a young adult to recognize that the real world doesn't always work that way. You're gonna have to pay some dues to become the boss; it won't happen overnight. Much like school, you work hard to pass or excel in math class only to move on to the next math class (and the next, and the next), but it takes perseverance to finally get that diploma or degree. And while you might not use all the math you suffered through, you will use all the experiences and developmental skills you gathered along the way.

I'll close with this quote from Paul Ludwig of Suncor Energy, who said at this new school, "one of the key factors must be to teach students how to learn." Sounds simple, but it's a bit more complicated than that.

Let's give it our best to create students who are ready for the real world outside the school walls.

Visualizations of 21st Century Global Learning

The creativity of 21st century educators humbles and energizes me. It is truly exciting to be involved in the endeavor to begin to investigate new ways of engaging current and future generations of learners. I found these two visualizations that for me have captured what our challenges are and what great opportunities await us. Take a look. What do these visualizations evoke in you?

The first is from Karl Fisch, Arapahoe HS. He produced this to show to the Arapahoe HS staff for a school year kickoff. Be sure to check out Karl's blog: http://thefischbowl.blogspot.com/

Did You Know? Shift Happens.



This next one comes from Jim and Tom. You can view their website at: http://bionicteaching.com/

Shake It Up!

Cyber Bullying and Public Schools

This week a prominent blogger described the recent death threats she has received through comments on her blog and in other places on the Internet. Bloggers rallied to her defense, including many prominent edu-bloggers. Andy Carvin, PBS Teachers blogger, proposed a day dedicated to stopping cyber-bullying. Stop Cyber-Bullying Day is tomorrow March 30, 2007. What this means for educators and non-educators is open to interpretation, but Carvin lists the primary goal is "to talk about it." There is no curriculum or set of activities, but a couple of activities are suggested: (1) create a anti-cyber-bullying podcast or PSA and upload it to the Internet (iTunes or youtube) and tag with stopcyberbullying or (2) ensure that the topic is covered in class Friday using materials from http://www.cyberbullying.us/ or http://www.cyberbully.org/ or http://www.csriu.org/

I also recommend that those of us working in public schools take it a step further. Evaluate your school board policies to determine whether the policy covers "cyber-bullying". If the policy does not cover this topic encourage your board to take on this issue. There are several recent articles on this issue, including a discussion by the National School Board Association. This is an emerging issue for school boards, but is pertinent and timely and cannot be ignored.

Scott McLeod of Dangerously Irrelevant and Schoolhouse Gate has informed me that he plans to blog tomorrow on the legal aspects of addressing cyber-bullying and has a podcast covering some of the issues. Watch for this blog. Check youtube.com for the tag: stopcyberbullying. Spread the word.

Thanks to Scott McLeod for the picture.

Algorithm

Algorithm: An algorithm is a method, like a recipe, in that by following the steps of an algorithm you are guaranteed to find the solution or the answer, if there is one.

Teaching and learning in the 21st Century may not have a clearly defined algorithm. However as witnessed by the postings on this blog the "recipe" for 21st Century global learning certainly is a process that has many ingredients that may lead us closer to finding the solution (if there is one). While Ma and Pa may be a bit off, they do have a recipe that is intriguing. Check out their algorithm by viewing the video below.

Do words and pictures define time?

It's been some time since I first stumbled across 10x10, but I continue to be as fascinated with the power of the site today as I was then. Surf around a bit on the picture montage, and you'll soon be addicted. But don't let the noodling potential fool you; there is extreme power in the imagery of 10x10 and the methodology behind it.

What's going on in the world at any given time ultimately affects each one of us, and 10x10 affords us snapshots of world events that we probably won't see on our local news. How might students and teachers use this tool?

Here are two activities:
1. use 10x10 to research your birthday - what happened last year on that day in the world that might affect you in some small way?
2. take a look at one whole month or one whole year - without the headlines, can you reconstruct your own narrative to describe what's happened in the pictures? You might even use the web to find the original news stories/events.

If we want to be global learners, we must learn more about the world in which we live, work, and play.

Video Sharing For Teachers

A new video sharing site has popped up on the Internet called Teacher Tube. The site is specifically designed as a social sharing context for educational video content that is "safe". It is being contrasted with Youtube and Google Video with respect to the safety and appropriateness of the content. I took a spin of the site last night and found many hilarious and interesting videos. I think most teachers (and administrators) will appreciate this first video, which is a take-off of the hilarious Sprint network commercials.

Also, checkout this video. It is one in a series created by a teacher (from Texas) that is rapping about mathematical concepts. It is a little hard to hear all the lyrics, but the production is innovative and fun. I think these students might remember these concepts, what do you think?


In addition to these videos, there are videos on teaching concepts (estimating area under a curve or running literacy circles), student videos, and much more. In addition, it is a social site in the youtube model that allows for favoriting and commenting.

Videos can be flagged for inappropriate content as well. How they the site owners will determine what is inappropriate will be interesting. For example, the video I embedded at the top uses a copy right protected song (Push It). Will this video be removed? Should it be removed?

Thanks to Cool Cat Teacher who mentioned this site in her blog

What uses do you see for the content? What about for student work?

CIPA Blog Launches

A blog chronicling the issues related to the Children's Internet Protection Act (CIPA) has launched. The first five posts have been discussed the historical and legal aspects of CIPA and issues related to filtering.

This will be a good blog to monitor as we develop our students into Global Learners.