In order to understand this 21st Century Learning in Action blog, I am going to quickly recap a recent blog post in which I defined 21st Century Learning. Try Googling 21st Century Learning and see if you can find a concrete definition. I have tried and became very frustrated by the lack of consistency between institutes and people alike concerning the meaning of 21st Century Learning. After gathering research findings and compiling others definitions, I found 21st Century Learning to mean “…creativity, collaboration, critical thinking and communication. It’s focusing on getting students ready for the future. 21st Century Learning is using technology in combination with pedagogy and content knowledge. It is not teaching to the test, memorizing facts or 1-1 technology,” (Schmitt, 2020).
What does 21st Century Learning look like in a classroom? Well, I don’t know what it looks like in all classrooms, but in mine, students are working with each other to find solutions, giving feedback to peers, creating ways to show solutions to problems, and using technology when appropriate. I always refer to TPACK, Technology Pedagogy and Content Knowledge, when I use technology in my classroom. I ask myself, does the technology I want to use connect to the content and fit in with how I want students to learn? When challenged to create a 21st Century Learning lesson plan, I had to think about how I’d write it up. I feel in many instances that 21st Century Learning happens in the classroom without planning for it because of how I set up my classroom. Students are encouraged to collaborate, ask questions, have discussions, and I allow my students to suggest new technology (thank you to a 4th grader who suggested Kahoot). Yesterday, I had my 5th graders share with a partner how they solved a math problem, not the solution but the process of how they got to the answer. During that discussion, I overheard a pair discussing the process and then I realized that they came up with different answers. The pair looked over their process and one led the other to notice her error within her process without simply telling her. She was then able to solve other similar problems using her modified process. To me, that is 21st Century Learning in Action that happened because of the background teaching that happens at the beginning of the year.
I challenged myself to try to incorporate a new technology while putting 21st Century Learning to action in creating a lesson plan. The 21st Century Learning goal of my lesson was to have students share their process in solving math problems with peers to elicit a discussion. I researched a lot of ways to incorporate technology and felt for what I wanted to accomplish with my 5th grade math group, GoFormative was the best option. GoFormative has the ability to be a virtual whiteboard. For my lesson, I posed a question and students were able to solve the problem on their whiteboard. I was then able to project student’s whiteboard screens, without their names associated, and we discussed the whiteboards. Students discussed why some of the work shown was correct and why others didn’t arrive at the correct solution. I think GoFormative works well in this capacity but when I want to hear students thinking through problems using GoFormative in conjunction with a video recording extension such as loom, will result in a better formative assessment.
As you may have inferred, I tried my lesson in my classroom. I realized that had I followed my lesson plan, step by step a lot of learning would not have happened. As a teacher who has been teaching for many years, and doing the same 4/5 split for two years and looping with my 5th graders, discussions happened because of the questions I naturally ask and the way I have trained my students. Students know how to chat with an elbow partner when instructed, ask questions or share when they see an opportunity to add to a discussion. I think 21st Century Learning is a buzzword right now but realistically it means teaching with best practice while preparing students for the future and incorporating technology when it adds to the lesson.
Schmitt. (2020, October 1). 21st Century Learning. Wix. https://schmit741.wixsite.com/website-1/post/i-m-sewing
Candace M. (2013, April 26). TPACK in 2 minutes. [Video]. Youtube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=7&v=FagVSQlZELY
