Beyond the Furniture: Student Skills Needed in a Learner-centered Environment

We will identify and learn about the skills that students need to become globally competitive graduates and brainstorm strategies for helping students to learn those skills.

Globally Competitive Graduate Learning and Innovation Skills Media, Information, & Technology Skills Preparation and Planning Classroom Environment Rigorous Relevant Globally Competitive Graduate Accessible Responsive Identify the P21 skills that are the foundation for the Framework for Instruction and Learning. Instruction Professionalism Core Knowledge Life and Career Skills Framework for Teaching, The Danielson Group, 2011 Framework for 21st Century Learning, Partnership for 21st Century Skills, http://p21.org

Framework for 21st Century Learning www.p21.org Explain that the skills came from the Partnership for 21st Century Learning. Their Framework for 21st Century Learning has the same 4 sets of student outcomes. The P21 site is a source for additional information about the outcomes. The resources we’re using in this workshop come from there. www.p21.org

Professional Learning Tool P21 Skills and Knowledge Explain we’re using the Professional Learning Tool to help us transition to a learner-centered environment. The P21 skills are located in the bottom or Student section.

How do those indicators connect to the P21 Student Outcomes? Framework for 21st Century Learning www.p21.org The student section identifies the skills students should be using to acquire, develop, use, and produce knowledge and information. To learn more about the items it’s useful to connect them with the P21 framework. Which indicators from the Student section of the Professional Learning Tool represent your P21 Student Outcome? How do those indicators connect to the P21 Student Outcomes?

Framework for 21st Century Learning Professional Learning Tool Mastery of key subjects and 21st century themes Interdisciplinary themes Global Awareness Financial, Economic… Civic Literacy Health Literacy Environmental Literacy All students are actively acquiring core disciplinary knowledge. All students are exposed to authentic, real-world contexts. One of our resources is the P21 Framework document. It provides a short description of each set of student outcomes. This matches the item from the learning tool with the P21 Framework. Make a connection between “authentic, real-world contexts” and the interdisciplinary themes. Identify the core disciplinary knowledge as the Common Core standards.

Learning and Innovation Skills Professional Learning Tool Separates students prepared for global competition from those who aren’t. Skills include: Creativity and Innovation Critical Thinking and Problem Solving Communication Collaboration All students use collaboration and communication to facilitate their learning. All students use critical thinking and problem solving. All students have opportunities to create and innovate P21 refers to the Learning and Innovation Skills as the 4Cs: creativity, critical think, communication and collaboration. The learning tool most closely connects with this set of outcomes.

Professional Learning Tool Information, Media and Technology Skills All students use of digital tools and content allow them to acquire, develop, and demonstrate knowledge and skills. Effective citizens must have functional and critical thinking skills, such as: Information Literacy Media Literacy ICT (Information, Communications and Technology) Literacy Point out that some outcomes overlap. For example critical thinking and communication is an outcome here as well as under learning and innovation skills. This outcome from the learning tool connects best with Information, Communications and Technology Literacy.

Professional Learning Tool Life and Career Skills Professional Learning Tool Students need to develop thinking skills, content knowledge, and social and emotional competencies that include: Flexibility and Adaptability Initiative and Self-Direction Social and Cross-Cultural Skills Productivity and Accountability Leadership and Responsibility All students have choice with regard to process and product All students engage in tasks that require adaptability and flexibility. While adaptability and flexibility in the learning tool matches exactly with a life and career skill outcome, choice is not specifically mentioned. And yet, choice underlies most of the outcomes. Students can choose to be flexible; they can choose their self-direction; they can choose to be responsible.

Now that we’ve seen where the P21 outcomes of the learning tool come from (and we know the source of additional information, we’re going to do an activity to come up with some strategies for helping students to learn these skills.

(What does it look like or sound like in the classroom?) Indicator Defined (What does it look like or sound like in the classroom?) Strategies to help students develop these skills

Reflection Which connections could use more or better strategies? For which connection(s) are you interested in finding more strategies? Have participants reflect on what was done. The goal is for each person to identify an outcome for additional research.

New Learning Pick one of the connections and research for strategies that can be used to help students with the skill. As you discover other strategies, add them to the chart. Be prepared to share a short explanation of the strategies. Explain the task. Point out that if they want to learn more about the outcome/skill, they can refer to the other resource, P21 Framework Definitions. Otherwise, an internet search along the lines of, “strategies for teaching students to…” will probably result in useful information. Have participants share whatever new strategies they add. Participants could also be encouraged to add to the charts any new information they learn about the skill. Participants might want to take pictures of the charts.

Did we… Identify and learn about the skills that students need to become globally competitive graduates? Brainstorm strategies for helping students to learn those skills? Summarize the workshop by using this slide. Also remind participants taking the workshop as part of DLU credit, about the reflection and its due date.

Are you taking the workshop for DLU credit? Reflection requirement 10 work days Send to DLU@bcps.org