21st Century Skills and Mindsets
Incorporating Technology and Teamwork in the Classroom
In the picture above, I worked with a group of students to create a human circuit using the Makey Makey program. When the circuit is closed, the students can use their hands to control the keyboard and play the bongos on the screen!
“21st Century Skills” go beyond computer literacy. For me, a student with a growth mindset that meets challenges with passion and perseverance will be most prepared for the advances of the future. In my classrooms, I create opportunities for students to persevere and to see the value in failure.
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The world is changing at an incredible pace. Technological advances have changed the way we communicate, problem-solve, sort information, and many other components of our lives. The classroom should be a place where students practice the skills to confidently participate in whatever career path they choose. 
The Smartboard is a great tool to use digital charts and engage students using multiple access points, including video and photography.
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Teaching Kids to Fail?! Engineering at its Best!
In a study of Squishy Circuits, students had to use the materials to make the LED light up. My guiding question was not, how did you make it light up? Instead, it was "How many ways did you try that did not work?" I teach students that it is more than acceptable to try and fail - it is a great thing! 
In an interactive read aloud of Rosie Revere, Engineer by Andrea Beaty, students discussed what it means to be an engineer. In the story, Rosie tries over and over to create a hovercraft, and even at the end of the story, she is still trying! Students expressed that we can learn from our mistakes and that there is no such thing as failure when we try our best.
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As a choice time activity, students could create a "Rosie"-copter using paper and paperclips.
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Turn and talks help students pause and process the story, while also allowing for some predictions, debates, and other great thinking!
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The Engineering Design Process Meets the Maker Movement: Hover Crafts, Skin Care Prototypes, and Scribblebots
At first glance, these materials may appear to be recyclable items - but they are so much more than that! I helped students work with our maker materials to build a hovercraft. We showcased them here!
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What could we engineer to help us remember to put on sunscreen? I created this chart to help guide students through their working process, and then I interviewed each kid-engineer about their creation. I used that interview to write a small description of the prototype, shown below.
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Students always looked forward to a Newsflash presentation during snacktime! I shared the latest innovations with students that blended engineering and maker concepts, such as a 3D printed cast and a finger-reader for blind people.
Meet Mr. ScribbleBot! I worked with seven students to create this scribble robot. When his circuit is intact, his off-balance motor helps him scribble along! It took quite a bit of tinkering to get all the materials to stick, but he became quite the character in our classroom.
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Working as a Problem-Solving Team
Communication skills are an indispensable component of 21st century thinking and learning.
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Students worked together to separate this bin of mixed materials into three groups of sand, gravel, and pebbles. By developing a solution to a problem by collaborating with others, students are furthering their 21st century skills.
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Reflecting on Teamwork Experiences
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Building the BigShot Camera
After students each had a turn to build the BigShot Camera, students were able to take turns to be the classroom photographer for a day. I worked with pairs of students to build the camera and organized their pictures into slideshows, which students were able to view during choice time. This was an amazing way to introduce students to circuits and photography.
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What do good businesses do? Students shared their prior knowledge about businesses in a group discussion, and my cooperating teacher recorded their responses.
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BizWorld is a project-based unit that gives students the opportunity to learn about entrepreneurship, finance, and business from a first-hand experience. Working in groups, students start, fund, and run their own company in the friendship bracelet industry. Students learn how to plan responsible financial decisions, collaborate with each other, and fundraise for their fifth grade class trip. In this unit, my role was as a Venture Capitalist - investing in companies and supporting them with feedback as a consultant. Students raised over $500! This kind of authentic, project-based experience is something I will bring into many more classrooms.
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Students form companies after completing job applications for the various positions. They must sign and agree to this business contract to get started!
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In choosing a name for their company, students also consider their group strengths and goals.
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Each company created a business plan to meet their goals.
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Students patented a design before presenting their business plan and prototypes to the Venture Capitalist.
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Each company employee had a vital role to the success of the entire company, which meant that students had to work together!
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While some students have never made a friendship bracelet before, other company members used their expertise to teach the company. Students also devised an advertisement campaign, complete with company logos and slogans. These advertisements hung around the school building until the actual sale day. Students were ecstatic to sell their products! |
How Do We Know What We Know? A Study of Archaeology
After studying archaeological principles for a few weeks, I created a culminating learning experience to students. I baked a cake complete with various candies, and students each took a piece of the "land" to "excavate." We charted our findings on a group grid.
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Students used archeological tools (toothpicks!) to carefully preserve our findings as much as possible.
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Once the grid was complete, we discussed any possible conclusions that we could draw from our findings. Students discussed that we could only make strong hypotheses based on our findings, and that knowledge can be skewed to fit a certain theory. Students then reflected on the pages shown to the right.
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Using small cards, students recorded their findings. The students then attached their corresponding piece of "land" to our class grid.
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Book Trailers: 21st Century Literacy Skills
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Students engage with text in multiple modalities. More than half of young internet users view content on YouTube, and students are immersed in mixed-media messages. Book trailers are projects that invite students to respond to a text in a multimodal format. I created the Book Trailer here, and I am excited to use Book Trailers with my future classrooms. |
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Professional Development: Keeping Up with the Pace of Technology
I attended a professional development workshop on programming with Lego Robotics by Teach21. Programming and robotic technology are innovative and exciting topics to incorporate into a 21st Century classroom.
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I met one of the authors of "Invent to Learn," Gary Stager. He inspires educators to have a dedicated maker space accessible for all students to tinker, experiment, and create!
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I attended the Maker Faire to see the latest and greatest in maker activities to bring them into my classrooms.
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