Aronen,+Christina


 * Use the course materials to help you respond to these questions for each Module.**


 * Module 1 Notes**
 * 1) What skills you think today's students will need to be able to live and work in the 21st Century? I believe students must be confident and know how to use communication skills well (both spoken as well as written). Students must have more than a cursory understanding of basic academic skills. They really must learn how to learn more than simply learn how to memorize and regurgitate information, only to forget it and never be able to use it in a meaningful way. The need strong research skills. They can't simply rely on Google or Wikipedia searches. Students must have strong analytical and critical thinking skills. Innovation comes from learning how to think outside of the box. These students need many opportunities to practice collaboration skills. In the workforce world, they will need to be able to successfully work through objectives and problems that arise while working through those objectives. Students need to learn how to be self-starters and take responsibility for their part of projects. They need to learn how to be able to negotiate respectfully with others and have wise decision making skills while working on projects.
 * 2) How you are preparing your students to gain these skills? If you are not currently teaching: How are educators preparing students to gain these skills? In regard to communication skills, I have been really focusing on developing the oral language skills of my kindergarteners, requiring them to communicate in complete sentences . I also expect them to look each other in the eye when they talk and let each other finish their sentences before another person is allowed to speak. In our time-crunched days, it is easy to present topics that need to be learned in quick fashion and move on quickly. I like to provide afternoon center time in which students have numerous opportunities to practice concepts introduced earlier in the day. It allows them to take a concept and look at it in different ways. I like to provide writing journals that I create in each center so that students can draw and write about their discoveries or new ideas. Often, the centers are run for more than one day. The centers always have hands-on activities and books related to the topic being covered. In my kindergarten class, there is not a lot of traditional ways for students to research information, so we create a lot of collaborative charts together. We make KWL charts so that we can come up with things we know and things we want to know so that we have a basis of what type of questions to begin asking so that we can learn more information. We do use classroom and library books as well as the internet in large groups to conduct research. I have four tables in my room, so I like to begin projects in large whole class groups and move into four small groups to work through projects. I love running centers that they rotate to so that they have different types of opportunities to have to work together. I also like to give them opportunities to work together in homo and heterogenious groups (all boys and all girls). They tend to work differently in these types of groups. I also place more advanced students with students who struggle to gi ve advanced students chances to use leadership skills when working in groups. At times, I simply give students an objective and materials and let them decide how they will go about the objective in their groups. It is interesting to watch how they can become self-starters and good managers in order to accomplish their goals. In instances where "Alpha Personalities" take over, I do remind them that while they have great ideas, so do all the other members of the groups and they have to remember to be considerate of all ideas, even the ones they don't feel are the best.
 * 3)  What is the difference between ’Foundation Skills" and "Functional Skills"? "Foundation Skills" are skills that are essential for basic learning experiences such as academics and how well those academics are understood and learned. "Functional Skills" are those skills that allow a person to take functional skills and use them in a real life fashion such as working in the "real world".
 * 4) How well your curriculum and current instructional strategies are helping your students acquire these skill? If your are not currently teaching how well do you think our schools are using instructional strategies to help students acquire these skills? I try to employ a variety of teaching strategies so that I can meet each of my students exactly where they need to be met. Not all students learn the same way. I try to vary the types of learning experiences so that all learners have opportunities to be successful with the learning experience.
 * 5) Think about today's students and the potential professions they might go into. Which of these skills might each student need? How can we make sure that all students are prepared with the skills necessary to enter the 21st Century Job Market? Many of the children who are students today will go into the workforce, engaging in professions with requirements that have not even been invented yet. Over the last ten years, how we conduct business has completely transformed. Since more business will be conducted "in the cloud" in years to come, future professionals will have to have the strongest of communication skills, be thoughtful to issues of cultural diversity, and be trained in means of collaboration that take place in person and via "the cloud".
 * 6) What patterns are beginning to emerge between the various resources you’ve been exploring? How do these skills compare with the list you made in question 1? I think the patterns that have emerged throughout all of module one have been: communication, collaboration, and innovation. Compared to the list in question 1, they are main themes that are interwoven into other necessary resources that were expanded in my answer to question 1.


 * Module 2 Notes**
 * 1) How can we make personalized learning a part of our schools and classrooms? Find out what the students are interested in and let them have some say. I like to start the first day of school off with an activity that asks them to describe what they hope to learn about in the year to come.
 * 2) How do we help our students become real learners? By letting them have input and embracing their talents to allow them to have a voice in the learning experience.
 * 3) What is/should be the role of assessment in student learning? How can we improve upon our assessment practices in order to really help all students be engaged, life-long learners? The role of assessment in student learning is to tell whether or not the teacher taught an objective that the student was able to adequately show they were able to meet. If the assessment was not met, the teacher should reassess how the material was taught and look at a different way to teach the material that meets the student where he or she needs to be met in order to complete the objective adequately. We can improve upon our assessment practices to help students be engaged by evaluating whether the assessment works. We can also look at the type of assessments we are using and determine if they are adequate for assessing the 21st century learner.
 * 4) What is the role of e-learning, and how will/isl this change(ing) the educational paradigm? E-learning used to be supplemental. It should be parallel to classroom learning and done in conjunction with traditional teaching/learning. Since, as the video stated, technology is becoming so common place and "disappearing into the individual", it should be embraced and used to keep this generation engaged in the learning experience.
 * 5) How do your students compare with the 21st Century learners described in Mark Prensky"s article on "The 21st Century Digital Learner"? Well, my students are quite young (only 5, but they will be right there with Mark Prensky's students in no time at all).
 * 6) HotChalk’s article on 21st Century Learners ? If you are not a teacher: How do you as a student or your children compare with the 21 Century learners described in this article? First of all, I loved the term "Screenagers". That is brilliant for this generation of middle/high schoolers. As stated in the previous question, my students are not there quite yet. However, they are fairly adept at whizzing their way around their parents gadgets like iPhones and iPads.
 * 7) To what extent to you see your students (or your children, or yourself as a student) possessing the qualities shown on thegraphic on the wiki for the International School in Bangkok? If you see any gaps, what do you consider the reason for these gaps, and how might educators help students gain these skills and qualities? My students are in the beginning phases. They are learning how to be effective collaborators because I am teaching them how to and giving them opportunities to practice. They are more effective learners later in the year than in the beginning of the year because they come in like a "me-centered" group from pre-school, which is common at this age. Throughout the year, they learn how to work together and in turn do become more effective learners. They definitely do not come in as effective communicators. In fact that is a cornerstone of what I offer in kindergarten to my students. I insist they practice effective communication from day one by modeling it for them and insisting they repeat after me to learn how to speak to one another in complete, kind, and considerate sentences with proper body language.
 * 8) To what extent are you, your children or your students Effective Learners, Effective Communicators, and Effective Global Collaborators.? I answered this in the question above.
 * 9) To what extent is your school (or your children's school) and classroom meeting these needs? I am working to help my students meet these needs in my own classroom. I am highly supported by this endeavor by our schoolwide culture of collaboration in safe, respectful learning environments.
 * 10) How might you rethink your classroom to make it a 21st Century classroom? I need to work on developing a global footprint for my students. What are the barriers you face to making your class a 21st Century learning environment? I don't see any. If you are not currently teaching how should classrooms be re-thought?


 * Module 3 Notes**
 * 1) List how your school and classroom environments support 21st Century learning outcomes. If you are not teaching, think about your school experience of the your children's school. Consider:
 * the extent to which faculty at your school collaborate, share best practices and integrate 21st century skills into classroom practice
 * We meet once every single morning and have an official staff meeting every Tuesday. My administration is supporting the growth of 21st century skills by expecting a schoolwide culture that collaborates in many activities and supports struggling learners through the use of peer assistants. The administration is constantly finding ways to help our student body reach outside the school walls to embrace global citizenry. Currently, our student body supports and communicates with two sponsored children in Africa and Asia.
 * students learn in relevant, real world 21st century contexts such as project-based and applied learning experiences
 * Most of the classroom experiences at my school are project-based and some are challenge based.
 * students experience equitable access to quality learning tools, technologies and resources
 * Though my school is a small, private, religious school, the administration has made it a priority to make sure that all students have equal opportunities to learn in the classroom. At times, that may even mean that some students have access to more technologies or resources than others, due to disabilities or learning or physicality.
 * to what extent architectural design of your classroom creates space for for group, team and individual learning
 * I have two large floor spaces that are used every hour that students are in my room. Tables are not placed together, so they are like four islands that allow up to 6 children to work together. If a student works better in a non-traditional space, they are allowed to move as long as they are participating on task.
 * to what extent you provide opportunities for both face to face and online interaction with community members and experts in their field for your students
 * This hasn't really been done well in the past in my kindergarten classroom. I have received some training that I feel will help me to be more successful with thi s. I have used websites like Scholastic that have offered recorded interviews that I shared with the children, but nothing interactive beyond virtual recorded field trips.
 * to what extent does your school and classroom reflect the 21st Century Learning environment
 * I believe all of the above explains that. In my interaction with many other teachers/learners this summer through conferences, summits, and classes, I feel my small school is well supported to embrace and build on 21st century skills.


 * Module 4 Notes**
 * 1) In what ways are your assuring that the 21st century skills taught discretely in the context of core subjects Is your curriculum interdisciplinary? It seems like the first part of this question was cut off, so I am not sure as to what you are asking. Yes, it is interdisciplinary.
 * 2) How does your curriculum focus on providing opportunities for applying 21st century skills across content areas and for a competency-based approach to learning? Most of our curriculum is aligned to the previously accepted State Standards and was written such that there are a lot of group activities for collaboration, some activities for global activities, numerous activities for technology options, and many activities in which students are encouraged to be critical thinkers and analyzers.
 * 3) What instructional strategies do you use to enable innovative learning methods that integrate the use of supportive technologies such as inquiry-based, project-based and problem-based approaches as well as promote higher order thinking skill? I like to provide a lot of hands on activities that allow for experimentation and inquiry and collaborative planning and thinking.
 * 4) How do you encourage the integration of community resources beyond school walls? This is something I truly need to work on.
 * 5) How can you better integrate 21st Century skills into your curriculum. Find a way to help my students to broaden their global footprint.

IF you are not currently teaching answer this from the point of view of your children's school or your experience as a college student.


 * Module 5 Notes**
 * 1) What are the best uses of technology to promote student learning in a 21st Century Classroom? My computer with the internet opens up numerous worlds of activity and global awareness for my students. Individual personal devices like iPods can be used to collect digital projects students have collaborated on so they can be revisited later by students. Any technology that can help stretch a child's higher order thinking skills can be used.
 * 2) What strategies can teachers use to assure their students are acquiring the 21st Century skills necessary for their future? Planning is key. Teachers need to evaluate what they want their students to know and decide if it is best taught in a Project Based Lesson, a Problem Based Lesson, or a Challenge Based Lesson.


 * Module 6 Notes**
 * 1) What aspects of Finland's educational model work in the United States? Not many. Schools here test the death out of our students and Finland does not. Schools are cramped here and many programs are underfunded or dropped because most of our money is fed to the top and does not trickle down. That is not the case in Finland. In Finland, students are encouraged to learn through creativity and in non-traditional learning environments. Most of the way students are taught in this country is with a "one-size fits all method and in truth many students do get "left behind" even though most of them are automatically promoted to the next grade. There are instances here where for one year, a teacher "loops up" with a class. In Finland, the class and teacher can stay together for up to 6 years. So many times, I have thought, "Here it is, May, and my students are just beginning to progress...now I have to let them go to summer vacation where they will forget more than half of what I taught them and they will be sort of starting over next year with someone else who doesn't know a think about their learning styles or personal needs and idiosyncracies." What a waste.
 * 2) How can we best reshape education so that all students gain the skills they need to live and work in the 21st Century? <range type="comment" id="113759">Make the curriculum and learning experience fit the child, not make the child fit the curriculum and learning experience.