21st Century Literacy SkillsTeachers Can Make a

Difference!

Dr. Debbie PowellUniversity of North Carolina Wilmington

Our Children’s Future

• Kindergartners today are the class of 2021

• Children born today will retire in 2063-2080

• What will the world be like then?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c1KEFgD6Dtg

The World Has Changed

We have moved into a more demanding cognitive age, compelling people to become better at absorbing, processing and combining information.

Can we learn to change with it?

Who might our kindergarten children be working with on an on-the-job

project in 2025?

Fastest Growing Cities

CityMayor Statistics

Today cities with the largest populations

1. Tokyo, Japan - 28,025,000 2. Mexico City, Mexico - 18,131,000 3. Mumbai, India - 18,042,000 4. Sáo Paulo, Brazil - 17, 711,000 5. New York City, USA - 16,626,000 6. Shanghai, China - 14,173,000 7. Lagos, Nigeria - 13,488,000 8. Los Angeles, USA - 13,129,000 9. Calcutta, India - 12,900,000 10. Buenos Aires, Argentina - 12,431,000

http://www.worldatlas.com/citypops.htm

How will this change in 2025?1. Tokyo, Japan 36.4 million2. Mumbai, India 26.43. Delhi, India 22.44. Dhaka, Bangladesh 225. Sao Paulo, Brazil 18.36. Mexico City, Mexico 217. New York City, 20.68. Calcutta India, 20.6 mil9. Shanghai, China 19.410. Karachi, Pakistan 19.1

The World Resource Institute predicts 33 mega cities--those with populations exceeding 8 million--by 2025. That's up from 21 in 1990, not to mention two in 1950 (London and New York). All but six of the 33 will be in the developing world.

Tom Van Riper , 2008http://www.forbes.com/2008/03/19/cities-population-pollution-innovation08-cx_tvr_0319futurecities.html

The two chief forces reshaping our world are the changing

demographics and the technological changes.

From: Internet World Stats

Two Paradigms for Globalization

• The globalization paradigm leads people to see economic development as a form of foreign policy, as a grand competition between nations and civilizations. These abstractions, called “the Chinese” or “the Indians,” are doing this or that.

• The cognitive age paradigm emphasizes psychology, culture and pedagogy — the specific processes that foster learning. It emphasizes that different societies are being stressed in similar ways by increased demands on human capital. If you understand that you are living at the beginning of a cognitive age, you’re focusing on the real source of prosperity and understand that your anxiety is not being caused by a foreigner.

Brooks, 2008

Globalization Is an Integral Part of This Generation

Because of globalization—the ongoing process of intensifying economic, social, and cultural exchanges across the planet—young people the world over need more innovative thinking skills, cultural awareness, higher-order cognitive skills, and sophisticated communication and collaboration skills than ever before.

The illiterate of the 21st Century will not be those who cannot

read and write

But those who cannot learn, unlearn and re-learn

Alvin Toffler

The Transformation• If the world in the 21st Century is going to be

more demanding of our young people, then we must urge them to higher and higher standards, more and more qualifications and a disposition for learning throughout life.

• We recognize that we are calling on schools to change dramatically, even as they face difficult economic challenges and a vigorous discussion of student achievement and assessment”

21st Century Partnership

Schools built on the Industrial Model won’t work in the 21st Century

• Time on Task• Standardization of

teaching, learning & assessment

• Transmission of knowledge • Over-emphasis on control• Building learning from the

part to the whole• Lack of attention to

diversity, individual differences, socialization, and collaboration

• Narrow view of effectiveness and efficiency

Teachers Need a New Pedagogical DNA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l72UFXqa8ZU

What “Skills” are 21st Century?According to 21st Century Partnership Learning Framework:

• Critical-thinking and problem-solving skills• Communication and collaboration skills• Creativity and innovation skills• Information and communications technology

literacy• Contextual learning

skills• Information & media

literacy skills

Life and Career Skills

• Leadership• Personal responsibility• Ethics• People skills• Adaptability• Self-direction• Accountability• Social responsibility• Personal productivity

Information Literacy• Accessing information efficiently and effectively,

evaluating information critically and competently and using information accurately and creatively for the issue or problem at hand:

• 5 years ago: information has doubled• 2 years ago: technical information has doubled• 1 hour ago: electronic information has doubled

(Partnership for 21st Century Skills, 2007)

• According to the English Language WordClock, we had  997,752 words in our language as of 7:30 pm 10/12/08; by April 2009 we will have 1 million. That’s about 12 new words a day!

http://www.languagemonitor.com/

Media or Critical Literacy• Understanding how media messages are

constructed, for what purposes and using which tools, characteristics and conventions.

• Examining how individuals interpret messages differently, how values and points of view are included or excluded and how media can influence beliefs and behaviors.

• Possessing a fundamental understanding of the ethical/legal issues surrounding the access and use of information

According to James Banks

• We need a Social Action Approach

Where students share viewpoints on social issues and take actions to help solve them.

“Content” of 21st Century

Core Curriculum +

• Global awareness• Financial, economic, business and

entrepreneurial literacy• Civic Literacy• Environmental awareness

This Isn’t an Add-On Curriculum

This: – Is a whole new way of thinking—a new

“Pedagogical DNA”

– Requires modeling in the classroom, what we expect of our learners

– Requires empowerment of teachers rather than limiting them as is called for in the “leadership standard” of the new NC 21st Century Teacher Standards

The 1st step is for schools to restructure curriculum & pedagogy!

Place student engagement

at the center of the curriculum.

A Day in a 21st Century Classroom

Content Forms the Context for Literacy and Mathematics•About 6 units a year built around the NC Standards•Inquiry predominate mode of instruction•Organized around a “big idea” or significant content•Incorporates 21st Century content, skills and dispositions•At least once a year, children are involved in a service learning project or a real community problem

Reading and Writing Workshop

includes Shared, Guided and Independent Reading and Writing, Word Study/Spelling, Rich Discussion, Mini Lessons for the Whole Class that Connect Reading & Writing and Teach Strategies

Mathematics Workshop

Integrating the Child with their Social & Physical World through

School Experiences

CHILD WORLD

Rather than leaving out science and social studies to improve reading, we begin with science and social studies to engage our learners and improve reading and math!

SCHOOL

EXPERIENCES

What Literacy Teachers Can Do Right Away

• Recognize the importance of teaching science and social studies as a rich context for innovative thinking skills, cultural awareness, higher-order cognitive skills, and sophisticated communication and collaboration skills and reorganize their curriculum to put these subjects as a priority.

What Happens to the Air Pressure?

As you go higher in altitude, air pressure decreases steadily. Air pressure is the force put on a given area by the weight of the air above it. Air is a mixture of gases. It is made mostly of molecules of nitrogen and oxygen. Molecules are the smallest pieces that a substance can be broken into without changing what the substance is.

The molecules have mass. They are attracted to the Earth by gravity, so they have weight. Normal air pressure is greatest at sea level. There the column of air extending above the surface to the top of the atmosphere is tallest. Sea level air pressure is about 1.04 kilograms per square centimeter (14.7 pounds per square inch). As you go higher in the altitude, the height of the column above you becomes shorter. Therefore the weight of that column---or air pressure—becomes less.

Molecules are closer together, or more dense, at sea level than higher in the atmosphere. Denser air weighs more than an equal volume of less dense air and pushes down harder. That is why air pressure is higher at sea level than high in the atmosphere.

Air pressure depends on the weight of its molecules pressing down on a given area. Molecules are closer together, or more dense, at sea level than higher in the atmosphere. Denser air weighs more than an equal volume of less dense air and pushes down harder. That is why air pressure is higher at sea level than high in the atmosphere.

From: McGraw-Hill. Science. Level 5. pp. D11-12.

Comprehension Questions

• As you travel in a plane to a higher altitude, what happens to the air pressure?

(The pressure lowers.)

• What is air made of? (It would be correct to say that air is made up of

molecules, a mixture of gases, or mostly nitrogen and oxygen)

• What are molecules? (Molecules are the smallest pieces that a substance can

be broken into without changing what the substance is.)

• What is the air pressure at sea level? (Sea level air pressure is 14.7 pounds per square inch.)

• How well did you answer the comprehension questions about air pressure?

• Extremely well Moderately well Not well

1 2 3 4 5

What Happens to the Air Pressure?

Air pressure is the force put on a given area by the weight of the air above it.

The molecules have mass. They are attracted to the Earth by gravity, so they have weight. Normal air pressure is greatest at sea level. There the column of air extending above the surface to the top of the atmosphere is tallest. Sea level air pressure is about 14.7 pounds per square inch. As you go higher in the altitude, the height of the column above you becomes shorter. Therefore the weight of that column---or air pressure—becomes less.

Conceptual Understanding comes BEFORE Comprehension

• We can’t just read about concepts, but it also isn’t enough to just “do” hands-on. We need both.

• Vocabulary is the label for the concept. The hands-on builds the schema for reading.

On-Going Assessment

• Asking yourself, “What do these children already know?”

• “Are they able to ask thoughtful questions?”

• “How do they use their skills to find out?”

• “Are they able to draw accurate conclusions from their data?”

• “How do they apply their new knowledge?”

Incorporate Inquiry to allow students to construct conceptual understandings and solve problems

What is Inquiry? The term inquiry is used in all subject areas at all levels of education. It is a method of problem solving based on reflective, rational thinking. The learners use their own knowledge as well as outside resources and experiences to inquire and discover acceptable, rational solutions of their own.

Adapted from Sheila Wineman

We often think of inquiry as giving kids freedom to explore.

But Inquiry is a Gradual Release of Responsibility

TEACHER

CHILD

The teacher’s role shifts from center stage to setting up the learning situations and facilitating learning.

Finally, involve children with service-learning projects that can connect them to schools

around the globe

• Schools can adopt like-minded sister schools in other nations.

• Students in different parts of the world can work together on special units, developed and sustained using the Internet, that focus on global topics of mutual interest and relevance.

Connect to the world! Connect to adults reading the same books!

Connect to penpals!

• http://www.epals.com/

A Major Shift away from Teacher- Centered to Child-Centered

Constructivist Theory

A Major Shift from Individualism to Collaboration

Social Learning Theory

A Shift from Skills only to Connecting Children to our World

Global Awareness

Civic Literacy

Environmental Literacy

Critical Literacy

Technology and Media Literacy

Financial and Economic Literacy

Information Literacy

There’s so much to LEARN and when children have a reason to engage, the small things we are beating our heads against the

wall to teach will come so much easier!

http://people.uncw.edu/powelld/

• Debbie Powell powelld@uncw.edu

Checklist for Self-Monitoring your Teaching• Why am I teaching this to these students? How does it

fulfill their needs? (How does it lead to achieving the standards in the NCSCS and the 21st Century Skills?)

• What is my big understanding or strategy I am teaching? (What are my standard(s) and objective?)

• How will this idea or strategy be used by these children, today, tomorrow and in the future?

• Is my work impacting the dispositions of my students?

• How will my assessment planned for this lesson inform me, my students, and their parents about what they have learned or need to learn next?

• Who has the primary responsibility for learning in this lesson? Do I have trust in myself and my children?

• How is my teaching consistent with my beliefs and what I know about kids?

Brad Walker & Debbie Powell