New Society New Skills Needed

“If our students are to survive, let alone thrive, in the 21st-century culture of technology-driven automation, abundance, and access to global labor markets, then independent thinking and its corollary, creative thinking, hold the highest currency” (Crockett, Jukes, & Churches, 2011, p 1).  Teaching in today’s 21st century culture needs to be unlike any era before, and as teachers we need to embrace this fact and strive to teach our students how to be successful in this new society.  “Today, it’s essential that all of our students have a wide range of skills beyond those that were needed in the 20th century, a range that includes the skills needed to function within a rapidly changing society” (Crockett, Jukes, & Churches, 2011, p 17).  I teach Kindergarten in a title I school, for most of my students this is their first classroom experience.  To me I feel as though unlearning and relearning are not as relevant in my classroom as learning is. Because this is their first time in a classroom the pressure to teach them how to learn and think is more crucial than ever before.  In teaching them to learn more independently, think critically, creatively and problem solve it will help them to be able to thrive in this ever-changing culture we are in, and be able to unlearn and relearn in the long run. One of the biggest challenges I face in my classroom on accomplishing this goal the way I know my students need, is district expectations and assessments.  There is so much pressure to perform well in short-term goals such as, assessments and standardized tests, that we lose sight of long-term goals, problem solving, creativity and other skills that are not being measured but are crucial for success in the 21st century. Because of this we begin teaching to the test rather than how to learn independently.    

 “Twenty-first-century learning will ultimately be learner-driven” (Rich, 2017).  Students will benefit their entire lives being able to problem solve and think critically.  Society is constantly changing and being able to adapt and learn with that change will help students to be successful in life.  Teaching students in this way takes a great change from the traditional classroom but is crucial to help our students.

References

Crockett, L., Jukes, I., & Churches, A. (2011). Literacy is not enough: 21st-century fluencies for the digital age. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.

Rich, E. (2017). How Do You Define 21st-Century Learning? Retrieved November 04, 2017, from https://www.edweek.org/tsb/articles/2010/10/12/01panel.h04.html

Hidden Shapes VoiceThread

I recently created a VoiceThread activity for my students!! We are able to find hidden shapes as a class and students can work on it at centers as well!!

https://voicethread.com/share/9453098/

The relationship between behaviorism, instructional strategies, and technology tools is vitally important to the classroom because it gives teachers the ability to personalize education while setting uniform precedents for their students. As my popular article stated, some say “behaviorist dogma has elapsed,” studying its functions and integrating behaviorist philosophy into the classroom can enhance the effectiveness of technology tools and instructional strategies (Wade, 2011).  According to my professional article this week, the ultimate goal of behaviorism is to take the behaviorist theory and “invoke observable environmental, physiological, and behavioral variables as proxies or surrogates that operationally define the theoretical constructs in the theory” (Moore, 2013).  In other words, positive and negative reinforcement is used to highlight positive or negative behavior exhibited by students in the classroom.  This data is observed, studied and practically applied by the instructor in a uniform way to identify individual behavior patterns and regulate action.  This behavior regulation increases the effectiveness of instructional strategies and technology tools by motivating students to express similar positive actions.  When students express similar responses to technology tools, for example, teachers have an increased ability to measure class performance and lesson plan in response to student weaknesses.

As a result of behaviorist learning theory, teachers can use one curriculum to appease the varied needs of all their students while modifying their approach to each individual.  According to the ISTE teaching standards, this integrates both designer and analyst teaching qualities.  As an analyst, educators track the data regarding student behavior and assess what type of affect their positive and negative reinforcements had on behavioral changes. In response, teachers exhibit the ‘designer’ standard where “educators design authentic, learner-driven activities and environments that recognize and accommodate learner variability” (ISTE, 2008).  Beyond improving student behavior, I believe this learning strategy allows students to “communicate clearly and express themselves creatively for a variety of purposes using the platforms, tools, styles, formats and digital media appropriate to their goals” (ISTE, 2016).  Students that feel more confident to express themselves can provide their teachers with important feedback on their experience with technology in the classroom and course content. Ultimately, this facilitates better teacher student interaction.

For Hour of Code and Genius Hour, I feel as though behavior management is key in helping those programs be effective.  These programs are student led, therefore reinforcing positive and negative behavior will give the students a clear picture of how they are expected to behave and help them to manage their own learning.  Orey (2015a) states that “You always want to reinforce the appropriate behaviors. That's the more powerful of the two”.  In doing this the students will want the positive reinforcement and mimic the desirable behavior.

References

International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE). (2016). Standards for students. Retrieved from http://www.iste.org/standards/standards/for-students-2016

International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE). (2008). Standards for students. Retrieved from http://www.iste.org/standards/standards/standards-for-teachers

Laureate Education (Producer). (2015a). Behaviorist learning theory [Video file]. Baltimore, MD: Author.

Moore, J. (2013). THREE VIEWS OF BEHAVIORISM. Psychological Record, 63(3), 681-691. doi:10.11133/j.tpr.2013.63.3.020

Wade, M. (2011). The Learning Theory that Could–Behaviorism and the 21st Century. Retrieved July, 2017, from http://cybergogue.blogspot.com/2011/10/behaviorism-learning-theory.html