P21: Partnership for 21st Century Learning

Saludos,

This week's topic is P21 or the Partnership for 21st Century Learning. If you haven't heard of P21 and you have a role in preparing people for a future in the 21st Century I recommend you take a look at their website: http://www.p21.org/

Essentially, P21 is a coalition of educational experts, business leaders, and educators who have united for the purpose of leading a movement of innovation in our educational system.  Their stated mission is "to build collaborative partnerships among education, business, community and government leaders so that all learners acquire the knowledge and skills they need to thrive in a world where change is constant and learning never stops".

The P21 Framework visually depicts the skills and knowledge needed to succeed in the 21st century. Notice that I said skills and knowledge, not either or. It also displays circular rings which  represent the support systems which must be in place to realistically prepare people for their future. That is where we in education have a roll to play. In order for the mission to be accomplished as stated, the support systems must have the end game in mind.

In higher education we often talk about preparing people for the 21st century but I wonder if we fully comprehend what that means and what it would entail. We acknowledge the need to prepare people for the 21st century, but I have seen little evidence that we fully embrace the concept in its totality. If we are committed to the belief that our students will need in depth knowledge and skills to optimize their potential in a world whose only constant is change then every institution and educator must employ the 4 Cs of this model. We have to willingly embrace change, collaborate across disciplines to create innovative learning experiences that cause our students, as well as, ourselves to thinking critically. The education that is needed isn't divided into disciplines, departments, and schools. It is one that joins not separates and pushes for innovation not stagnation. 

I can imagine a Community College in which the teachers are divided into teams and each team is made up of faculty from the Social Sciences, Humanities, and STEM Divisions. The teams work in unison to design real world learning experiences that model problem-solving and collaboration. The archaic model of stove-piped disciplines goes away and it is replaced by faculty promoting one another's disciplines for the sake of creating the most worthwhile learning opportunities possible.

Some will argue that the P21 model is designed for the K-12 world. I disagree, I see it as a model for learning at all levels of formal education and beyond. I say this because the outcomes of this model are the skills we apply in the workforce and in our homes. We need these skills to manage the change that is coming to our environment, our classrooms, our offices, and our homes. 

I see preparing people for the 21st century as a necessary mandate. My roll, being one educator in this vast system, is to understand the 21st century skills, continue to prepare myself , evaluate my current practices and be willing to let go of what doesn't get the needed results. I have to be willing to work  across disciplines and borders to model collaboration and risk-taking. I have to experiment with new technologies and strategies. I have to do this for the sake of my students and our future.

Teachers as Change Agents

Another week has flown by and it is time for me to check in with what I have learned about technology integration in the Modern Language classroom. After reading an article written by Peggy Ertmer and Anne T. Ottenbreit-Leftwich I came to one conclusion with regards to the role and the teacher and the role of technology in my classroom. That conclusion is; I am still the entity that must inspire, challenge, and lead my students. I am choosing to use a variety of technology tools to facilitate the learning but it is I who must create the environment for growth and change. Simply adopting a new software or a new App will not bring about that growth.

The community college where I teach supports my aspiration to learn and integrate the most appropriate technology into the learning experience. A few years ago they added a new position to lead technology-enhanced instruction (TEI) across the campus. Since, we have been afforded individual and small group training. They review the instructional application and effectiveness of tools and share the information via newsletters, a website, and a resource list. 

Outside Cuzco, Peru (Photo taken by Theresa Baginski)

The administration, most of my colleagues, and of course the TEI team recognize that our students will need to use technology in their future careers. As one of my colleagues in the Elevate course pointed out, our Modern Language students in the future will need to use their language skills via technology far more often then face to face and we need to prepare them for that communication platform. The notion that technology integration is simply 'bells and whistles' fails to acknowledge that our world is entirely dependent upon technology and regardless of the field of study students pursue they will have to understand the application of technology to be effective and successful. 

This takes me back to the beginning of this post where I acknowledge that merely using a form of technology will not bring about change. Teachers who do that are just adding 'bells and whistles' to their instruction. In order to truly be a change agent we have to thoughtfully consider the intended learning outcomes and then apply the most appropriate technology. But that isn't all we need to do;

we also need to determine how to use the technology to push our students to those higher-level thinking skills of evaluate, analyze, and create within our content areas. This requires energy, patience, determination, and a willingness to fail on occasion. 

We ask our students to venture into the unknown everyday. Why wouldn't we expect the same of ourselves? 

Until next week,

Cuzco, Peru (Photo taken by Theresa Baginski)

Great Story Telling Tool

Wow! I am so happy that I follow Creative Language Class. Today I received Kara's latest blog post on how she chooses which vocabulary she will target for a unit. The blog referenced back to a previous post that sounded interesting and useful. This is where the Wow comes in. I learned about Adobe Voice and was able to see its application for telling a story with pictures and voice. It looks super easy to use and would be great for any level of my Spanish classes. Here is the link to the example provided:

http://www.creativelanguageclass.com/technology/come-close-its-time-for-a-story/

My next unit in Intermediate Spanish is on memories and leaving your home country to live in another country. I want to pull in immigrant stories as part of the unit, have my students interview an immigrant, and then they can use Adobe Voice to tell their own family story.

I have to try this out myself! I will add to this post once I have completed it so you can see another example.

Professional Development

I enjoy professional development unlike many people. At least that is the way it feels when I hear colleagues complain that they have to attend 'yet another' faculty development day or mandatory professional development. My philosophy has always been that if I walk away from a professional development event with at least one inspiration then it was a worthwhile use of my time.

Inspiration, ideas, resources, and contacts drive me to seek out professional development. I am confident that as a result of any given PD experience I will be inspired, get a new idea, learn about an amazing resource or meet an interesting person. The key for me is to listen carefully and socialize ideas.

Antigua, Guatemala (Photo taken by Theresa Baginski)

This 'glass half full' attitude toward PD leads me down many paths in search of professional growth. In the past year I participated in webinars, conferences, workshops, lunch and learn sessions, college courses, and travel. Each of these helped me to enhance my language skills, cultural understanding, or teaching capabilities.

My favorite source of professional development is any activity that affords the opportunity to learn from colleagues and share my own ideas. Over the course of the past 18 months I was fortunate enough to receive the support of my employer to organize four separate professional development events. Teachers represented middle and high schools, our community college, and a four-year college. Over the course of the four events we focused on culture, the language proficiency levels, creating classrooms driven by authentic input, and the oral proficiency interview. Our goal is to create a seamless pipeline of language learning so that our students can get the most out of each classroom experience.

I can't speak for anyone else that attended those full day events, but I was definitely inspired by our presenters and fellow participants who shared their ideas and resources. This inspiration has driven innovation, curiosity, and a willingness to change what needs to be changed.

For the language teacher out there who just read this blog I would like to share one of the tools that I learned about in a recent workshop and a list of technology tools that I received at a conference. I hope that both of these will help you as you strive to make your classroom 'real' for your students.

https://sites.google.com/site/technologyforclac/

https://www.diigo.com/user/theresabaginski

My use of technology

This is my first blog ever and I have been asked to address my personal relationship with technology.
Technology has become an integral part of my life as it is of most people in the United States. I use my iPhone to text my children, husband, extended family, and friends. I also use it to research information, to access Google Maps so that I can find my destination, and my students use it to record themselves when we are conducting Performance Assessments.My use of technology extends into my office where I Skype with my students, access emails, and plan my lessons.

Gradually over the years, our dependence on and utilization of technology has expanded. I can still remember buying our first Apple computer and using the encyclopedia on it to help my daughters do research for their school reports. I can also remember when I first realized the dangers of online communication, as my 14 year old filled out an online profile stating she was 18 years old.

Now I use technology in my classroom everyday. I work in a 'smart' classroom which allows me to access the Internet and in turn project the world on a screen in an instant. It is hard for me to imagine what it was like before I could simply look information up online and immediately project a visual image which displayed the world for my students. However, I am not naive. I often encounter challenges with new applications or tools and when that I happens I seek out the expertise of our IT experts. At JCC we have a strong team of experts who willing assist and instruct faculty and students. This has been a key factor in my successful implementation of technology to manage and instruct.

Personally I see myself as intermediate on the technology proficiency scale. I am willing to experiment with technology and see the advantages to integrating it into our curriculum. However  I strongly believe that there is a balance between traditional teaching strategies and the use of technology to teach Modern Languages.

My goal is to identify the applications of technology that are most useful in teaching languages.
Our students deserve to be prepared for the 21st century work force and that will include both language and teachnology skills.