Why Creativity Now? A Conversation with Sir Ken Robinson

An interesting conversation with Sir Ken Robinson on Educational Leadership: Teaching for the 21st Century.

http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/sept09/vol67/num01/Why-Creativity-Now%C2%A2-A-Conversation-with-Sir-Ken-Robinson.aspx

Technology a tool and not an end

I have recently found an interesting graphic under the title" 7 C's for Effective Teaching ".

One of the things I have notice in this graphic is the absence of a digital component.  This reinforce my idea that a great learning experience does not have to involve my NE/Yr 1 students glued to a Notebook/iPod/iPad.  These are awesome tools, but just tolls none-the-less.  Students only use them when needed and when they have a purpose to do so and not just for the sake of using technology.

Please don't get me wrong, I strongly encourage and embrace technology as an important part of a future-focused education, as well as how I can prepare students for living in the 21st century.  I also have to mention here that technology tools are a seamless part of my classroom.  I endorse that computer technology has become more important in the classroom than ever before to cater for the demands of good teaching and learning.

It is just my perception that the 7 C's mentioned here, could provide me with a starting point in embracing student voice.

And in case you wonder...  technology can be used to gather information on this.

Teaching and Learning above and beyond

Today's students are moving beyond the basics and embrace the 4C's which are some "super skills" for the 21st Century. These skills will enable students to solve problems in our fast-changing world and will last them for a lifetime.  Learning goals in reading, writing and maths are still important and won't be replaced by the 4C's.  The goal is to integrate 21st Century skills into all learning areas to enable students to master the 4C's.

The 4C's include the following:
Critical Thinking: Look at problems in a new way, linking learning across learning areas
Creativity: Trying new approaches to get things done
Communication: Sharing questions, thoughts, ideas and solutions
Collaboration: Working together to reach a goal

I love this video which highlights the importance of collaboration, communication, critical thinking and creativity.


Now the challenge is to build this 4Cs into my classroom and to help my students embrace this.

Future-focused learning and teaching

We are currently in the process of having forum meetings with our parents regarding the 'Basics' at our school.  This whole process of hearing what parents' views are about current education practices, is very informative and worthwhile.
This had me again looking into Effective Pedagogy and my action promoting student learning.  While in the process of doing this, I came across this excellent, meaningful information on teaching for 21st century learners.

Questions to be asked:
What does future-focused learning and teaching look like? What ideas and principles underpin it? What makes it different from other teaching and learning practices? How do we change our practice to become inclusive and build an environment where akonga/learners, teachers, and whānau work together?

Future-focused education - what does it mean?

• How can education prepare students for living in the 21st century?
• How can schooling change to meet the opportunities and challenges of the 21st century?
• How can we prepare students to address "future-focused" issues such as sustainability, globalisation, citizenship, and enterprise?

Bolstad, R. (2011)

Literature suggests we need to be future-oriented and adaptable, adopting a more complex view of knowledge, that incorporates knowing, doing, and being. Alongside this we need to rethink our ideas about how our learning systems are organised, resourced, and supported. Educators need to consider:

• Personalising learning – how can you use technologies to build the school curriculum around the learner and more flexibly to meet learners’ needs?
• Building an inclusive learning environment - how you use technologies to:
  • engage learners, family/whānau, and communities in co-shaping education to address students’ needs, strengths, interests and aspirations?
  • provide access to anywhere, anytime learning?
  • support assessment and evaluation processes so that these are dynamic and responsive to information about students?
• Developing a school curriculum that uses knowledge to develop learning capacity – how can you use technologies to enable students to create and use new knowledge to solve problems and find solutions to challenges as they arise on a “just-in-time” basis?
• Rethinking learners’ and teachers’ roles – how can you use technologies to create a “knowledge-building” learning environment where learners and teachers work together?
• Building a culture of continuous learning for teachers and school leaders – what opportunities to participate in and build professional learning are afforded by technologies?
• New kinds of partnerships and relationships - how can technologies be used to facilitate this?

Bolstad, R & Gilbert J, et al. (2012)

  

^{Providing higher order, authentic learning experiences allowing students to use technologies to explore content. The principle of ako affirms the value of the pair and group learning approaches in which students interact with their peers, teacher, tasks, and resources. These are very effective approaches for teaching and learning.}

Ka Hikitia - Managing for success: The Māori Education Strategy 2008–2012

Teaching for 21st century learners
Dr David Parsons, Associate Professor, Massey University explains the need to teach higher level thinking skills and develop key competencies using technology to prepare students for the 21st century

Note: (Questions and information was quoted from TKI - enabling e-learning | teaching)