http://www.p21.org/storage/documents/P21_Framework_Definitions.pdf

Here's the Partnership for 21st Century Skills Overview of what constitutes the skill set that students will need in the future.

http://www.edutopia.org/high-tech-high-collaboration-age-video


Here's a link to a video about High Tech High School in California.  The focus there is on project based learning is which they use technology for production and not consumption (in their own words.)

How to Create Your Own Textbook - With or Without Apple

http://mindshift.kqed.org/2012/01/how-to-create-your-own-textbook-with-or-without-apple/

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questions for our graduates

While all of these visits will allow us to see some unique ideas/buildings I think we need to act sooner than later on determining what we want a Wyoming Graduate to be. I think we need first hand information from our graduates on this since all of our ideas on what we do well and what we need to improve on might be off base. I propose we have a website we can direct our graduates to that will ask a few quick questions. Some can be simple number 1 - 10 responses and others can allow for open responses. As we do not have a great deal of time, I think this should get up and running ASAP. Here are some questions I have thought of. Please feel free to tweak, add or say they will not be helpful.

1) Are you...employed, in college, in the military, graduated from college, in the workforce, went to college but did not graduate? Multiple choice

2) If you went to college but did not graduate why? Multiple Choice

3) How well did Wyoming City Schools(WCS from now on) prepare you for your life choice after high school? #1-10

4) Do you feel that you have skills, knowledge, etc. coming out of WCS that are significantly better than your peers? open response

5) Do you feel that your peers have skills, knowledge, etc. that are significantly better than yours coming our of WCS? open response

6) In your opinion, what are the strengths of WCS? open response

7) In your opinion, what are the weaknesses of WCS? open response

8) Give your overall opinion of the education you received from WCS. #1-10

STEM Scouts - tiered awards for learning

I see the implementation of STEM as a tremendous opportunity for students to earn some type of credit toward graduation in grade levels lower than HS.  Students might become more vested in their own education at lower grade levels if they have an opportunity to earn some type of credit that will be recognized as they move up.  I envision graduations at the middle school and high school that recognize the students' achievements in STEAM.  Check out this STEM Scouts website.  The structure of earning awards toward STEM learning appears to be well thought out and tiered.- a model that we could adopt?

www.dmlcompetition.net?Competition/4/badges-projects.php?id=3122

Manassas Park ES in Virginia.  How can students learn in flexible, casual, spaces with connection to the outdoors?  The institutional feel of the typical classroom drop ceiling is replaced by thin lattice wood.  Daylighting is all the light the students need to work by.

More info here.

http://www.nea.org/home/38148.htm

Redefining Instruction With Technology: Five Essential Steps

Redefining Instruction With Technology: Five Essential Steps

I especially like the point about embracing failure.

Embrace failure. Last year gave me an invaluable lesson in celebrating failure. When the iPad integration didn’t go as I’d initially hoped, I had the rich experience of reflecting and restarting. I teach my students to evaluate their own incorrect math strategies to better appreciate the beauty of one that works. Similarly, I had to fail—and take a good long look at that failure—to truly understand why what I'm doing now works. To be honest, I know that I still have a lot of room for improvement. I'm sure I have more failure in my near future and I can’t wait.

So if you begin to implement a new app in your classroom and it falls flat, react by asking yourself what you’ve learned. Welcome your students into this culture of learning from adversity. By creating a safe, open environment and by being clear that this endeavor is as foreign to you as it is to them, you encourage risk taking—and greater achievements.

I have been reflecting more and more on risk taking. I believe that we need to embrace a culture where taking a risk is accepted and possibly celebrated.

One of my jobs will be to flood the committee with images that I hope inspire.  Here is a few for starters.

Above, interesting image of an active learning lab.  Notice windows to the outside on the left, and full glass windows towards the corridor on the right.  Internally, classrooms are linked with a glass garage door.

Below, the same effect with sliding glass doors as opposed to rolling garage doors.  Acoustical separation with visual transparency.

Above, I like the vibrancy of this space.  Imagine a 2 story space between the new addition and the existing middle school with stem labs above, and access to the gym, student dining, playgrounds, and performing arts on the first floor.  Notice that there is no traditional "lunchroom" but rather the entire corridor is a lunchroom, or an art gallery, etc.  Stairs to the second floor are open and celebrated.

Below, links to the existing MS corridors could be "bridges" across the 2 story open space.  Could be branded "Wyoming Way" as it points towards the openness of learning in the future.

Below, a good example of extended learning space linked both physically and visually to learning labs. Has more of an elementary feel to it which is relevant given that we are accommodating 5th and 6th grades.

College of Informatics

Dr. Lang and I had a chance to visit Northern Kentucky yesterday and talk STEM.  Very exciting!  Our meeting was at Griffin Hall where their new College of Informatics is located.  You have to check this out when you get time.

http://informatics.nku.edu/

I think we need to take a visit.

Flipping the Classroom

For those interested, here is a link to an article I found about flipping the classroom.

• Teachers Flip Their Lectures, Homework to Reach More Students

I also wrote a couple posts about what I have done in my classroom on my blog. 

• Flipping the Classroom
• Flipping the Classroom Part Two: The Nuts & Bolts

THE Journal Article Referral

21st Century Task force:

Mike Overbey thought you might find this article from THE Journal (http://www.thejournal.com) useful.

Sender's message: ""

This Time It's Personal

Truly student-centered learning has a lot of support in high places in education, but it can't happen without the right technology infrastructure to drive it. And the technology may be ready to deliver on its promise.

To read the complete article, please go to:

http://thejournal.com/articles/2012/01/04/personalized-learning.aspx

Mike Overbey

 

Free subscription to T.H.E. Journal magazine in print or digital format

In the spirit of sharing ... Apple just today launched a major initiative to bring K-12 textbooks to the ipad.  The video on the apple site is compelling.

http://www.apple.com/education/#video-textbooks

Hello all! Great conversations -- keep it going. I thought you would appreciate seeing Gahanna City Schools(Columbus) plans for an extension of their high school. 

http://www.gahannashools.org/NewsDetail.aspx?article=2842

http://www.gahannaschools.org/NewsDetail.aspx?article=2843

Learning Forever,

Sue

As a primary teacher, much of the technology being discussed would benefit my students too.  If we make the investment in getting the new technology, whatever it may be, I think it will also be very important to make the investment in providing appropriate staffing and/or training to support the technology.  At my school, for instance, all the teachers currently share a mobile cart filled with laptop computers for student use.  Earlier this year I brought the cart into my classroom for a lesson.  It began with each of my 23 students getting a laptop to use.  By the end of the lesson, only 12 of the laptops were working properly--some had not been properly charged, some just froze up...  It was a  very frustrating experience.  If we had a staff member whose job duties specifically included oversight of this type of technology, or if we had some sort of "technology" teacher or lab to help with these types of lessons, things could run much more smoothly.

On an unrelated note, I have been to a few presentations recently about the future of education.  Many of them have referred to Steve Jobs's 2005 commencement address at Stanford.  If you've never seen it, it is worth checking out.  Just go to YouTube and type "Steve Jobs Stanford." (R Schaen)

Following is a message from Dr. Lang that pertains to the link below ……

“Last week, Susan Wells Brunke, Aaron Marshall, Weslie Ostendorf and I attended a seminar in Columbus on “Ohio Competing Globally”.  Dr. Fernando Reimers presented on global competency in our schools.  This presentation can be found on the link below.  To locate the beginning of Dr. Reimer’s speech, you will need to view the advertisement and then run your cursor along the timeline to the 34 minute mark. I encourage everyone to listen to the presentation (40 minutes)!

http://www.livestream.com/columbuscouncilonworldaffairs/video?clipId=pla_9384604c-3875-4419-b5c5-eb032fdb1c9e&utm_source=lslibrary&utm_medium=ui-thumb

Attached is a link to an article (What Schools Can Learn From Google, IDEO, and Pixar) on how design can inspire creativity, play and collaboration.

http://www.fastcodesign.com/1664735/what-schools-can-learn-from-google-ideo-and-pixar

Meeting Minutes (1/18/12)

I want to thank everyone for taking the time to commit to the Wyoming 21^st Century Task Force.  There was a sense of synergy at our meeting from the lively discussion.  I have attempted to capture the “burning questions” shared at the table. You will be receiving another email next week sharing our blog, dates for visitations and other thoughts. I appreciate your passion to produce a plan which can serve as the framework for our instructional delivery model.

Burning questions:

1.        What skills do we need to teach and what gaps do we currently have with our curriculum?

2.       How can we create collaboration time within the work day? Business models do.

3.       How can we build a state of the art technology infrastructure?

4.       What should a graduating senior’s profile look like in a couple of years?

5.       How can we plan for flexibility?

6.       How can we teach our adults along the way?

7.       How do we structure a new delivery so the change is “frictionless”?

8.       Who are we benchmarking with the state vs. Wyoming? How much change will Wyoming tolerate?

9.       What tools can teachers use, and how do they stay current?

10.   How do we keep kids coming to Wyoming school’s instead of staying home in their pajamas and learning via technology?

11.   How do we focus on new skills when the state measures us on the state standards?

12.   What pilots are working – other examples, role models?

13.   As teachers, how do we teach creativity?

14.   How do we design around our vision?

15.   Efficacy - How do we prove and measure personalized learning? How do we improve learning?

16.   How do we create an environment in which students can learn?

Next steps:

• Learn from visiting other schools and businesses
• Create blog in order for us to dialogue with each other on what we are learning.
• Share articles/research with each other
• Establish next meeting date in February after some of our visits and exchanges

After our meeting yesterday, I contacted a friend of mine who is the STEM Project Manager for the Florida Virtual School.  She has been working with STEM development since 2007 here in Cincinnati and has recently moved to St. Pete.  She has visited STEM schools throughout the country and suggested investigating some schools that are on the right track in states such as Minnesota and Texas.  I'll find out some additional details this weekend. 

Until then, she sent a link to a webinar that she thought might be helpful.  You will have to register for the seminar to view the video.

Duration: 60 minutes

Please use the URL below to access the Webinar.
http://edweek.org/go/webinar/NewWaveSTEM

I went on the Ohio School Facilities website and linked to 21^st century. They have some examples of schools that have planned and designed based on some of the principles discussed last night. This link is Hamilton Schools- I like what the teacher has to say!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-61i-rE0XWg

Team-

Check this out….http://www.ted.com/talks/ken_robinson_changing_education_paradigms.html  very cool and thought-provoking view on education.  This is my source on creativity comment in meeting as well as view that we need to prepare kids for jobs that don’t yet exist.  This was forwarded to me by Mike Jensen…retired PG R&D VP/Wyoming Resident/Innovation Consultant.  Looking forward to both the destination and journey we’re taking together on behalf of our kids/community.

Suggest we forward stuff like this to each other as we come across it.

Judd