ASCD+Notes

__//1. How do we prepare our learners for their future?//__ In looking at our school calendars, day schedules, assessments, and assignments as artifacts viewed by educators 100 years from now, what year does it look like we're preparing students for? Answer: In most cases, 1985. We now must focus on three new literacies: digital, media, and global.
 * Overview** These notes and resources are based on the ASCD Pre-Conference Institute Workshop entitled "Upgrading the Curriculum: How to replace dated content, skills and assessments to engage 21st century learners. What to cut? What to keep? What to create?"
 * Two essential questions drove our discussion of developing curriculum for the 21st century:**

__//2. Who owns the learning?//__ The student owns it. According to Heidi Hayes Jacobs, athletics and the arts are the only subjects in which students 1) take complete ownership of their learning and their progress, 2) are given concrete skill-based ways to "do something differently" and 3) lead up to an authentic performance/assessment. **Taking action** Standards are not the same as curriculum. Upgrading the curriculum must include reviewing standards in the entire K-12 schema, not focusing on just your grade level. Continuity is key. Three areas of curriculum to change: assessments, skills, and content. The easiest upgrade to make is to an assessment. However, that doesn't mean you've redesigned the curriculum. Skills and content are more difficult to tackle, but are also integral to an updated curriculum.
 * UPGRADING:

What are the main criteria for an upgrade? The upgrade encourages student engagement, curiosity, and //research//. It deepens examination of content, engenders student independence and is reflected in the quality of student work. Assessment upgrade styles should be refined to be persuasive, informative, or narrative. ||

**Committing to Change** Teachers must commit to:
 * Assessment Upgrades || * Students create their own system of note-taking akin to texting.
 * Create a Facebook page for an historical figure.
 * Students create their own "TED Talks" and live-stream them to other classrooms.
 * Performance assessment: create an app that helps solve a real world problem. ||
 * Skills Upgrades || * Have students submit resources and create their own project/unit clearinghouses. //They// vet and review resources to include, annotate submissions of websites, and comment on each other's finds.
 * They can also compare and review online tools.
 * Teach students to write screenplays. ||
 * Content Upgrades || * You must decide what is essential for your learner? Further distill the curriculum to the core. Reexamine your own worldviews before exposing others to your ideas.
 * There is no issue that is not inherently interdisciplinary. Subjects should not be covered in a vacuum.
 * Stop having an "immigration unit". Look at gateway cities and population movement
 * City living and urban planning. streetseducation.org
 * Social studies: Don't teach geography as a separate unit. //All// subjects should incorporate geography into content: world languages, science, economics, art, social studies, etc...
 * Social studies:Too much focus on American founding fathers. One example given was Skyping with a class in London and comparing how the American Revolution was taught there versus here. Try to focus on multiple/global perspectives in order to avoid breeding ethnocentrism and narcissism.
 * Social studies: Create anthropological studies of local towns/cities. How and why have things changed?
 * Math: 40% of all achievement test errors in math are reading errors. "math teachers are reading teachers" In Japan, they give three word problems on a test. Students are not asked to solve the problems. They are asked to translate the problem and describe //how// to solve it.
 * Science: too much focus on weather and mammals at elementary level. Suggests more focus on physics in eighth grade. In New York State, students can conduct a three-year independent science research project with a mentor and cooperation with institutions.
 * Language arts: Start to critique modern electronic media. Study modern poetry via pop music lyrics. ||
 * Indentifying at least one UNIT to revise.
 * Replacing a specific content, skill or assessment practice within that unit.
 * Sharing the changes with colleagues (communication is key!).
 * Learning any new tool being used.
 * Tolerating some amount of frustration that is inherent with change.

**Tools and Resources**
 * classroom20.com || "the social network for those interested in Web 2.0, Social Media, and Participative Technologies in the classroom" ||
 * curriculum21.com || See the Clearinghouse tab for tagged and vetted websites, resources, and tools. ||
 * cyberschoolbus.com || United Nations-created site for students to learn about global issues. ||
 * EdSteps.org || Created by educators to be a storehouse of student work in a continuum of key skills. ||
 * Evaluation Guide || Kathy Schrock's guide to evaluating the information presented via different media. These could be included in an information literacy lesson with Mrs. Singer (hint, hint). ||
 * gapminder.com || A highly visual presentation of data that manipulated in a myriad of ways. Great to create talking points and research questions. ||
 * Garage Band || Available on the Mac. Use it on a Smart Board to have students collaborate on creating and editing a piece of music together. ||
 * LiveBinders || What it sounds like...and more! Create binders of information, websites, photos, and more that can be shared online. No gmail account required. ||
 * mentimeter.com || Voting/polling tool that shows results instantaneously. ||
 * museumbox.com || Creating a box of evidence/data about a topic ||
 * ngram viewer || Created by Google, input words and the graph will show # of occurrences in books since 1700. ||
 * Quizlet || Create your own flash cards/reviews. Students take ownership of their own review process, even if the practice itself is traditional. ||
 * taggalaxy.com || Sort through millions of tagged photos from Flikr. Could lead to visual writing prompts. ||
 * todaysmeet.com || This tool helps create a backchannel in the classroom. (also previewed during our faculty meeting) ||
 * typewith.me || Collaborative notepad that all can contribute to in real time ||
 * viewbix.com || Add captions and buttons to Facebook, YouTube and Vimeo videos. ||
 * vocabgrabber.com || Part of visualthesaurus, you can create personalized vocabulary lists organized by topic or subject. ||
 * Wolfram Alpha || Gather statistical data to support arguments. ||
 * zooburst.com || Create a virtual pop-up book. ||