Overview: Successful Students

Many states have recently updated their standards to reflect the needs of 21st century children and young adults.

ISTE and AASL have recently updated their student standards. If you're already addressing the old standards, now is your chance to revisit your curriculum and reconnect with the teachers in your building. It's also a great opportunity to infusion Web 2.0 applications and other new technologies across the curriculum.

Explore the NETS - National Educational Technology Standards from ISTE.

1. Creativity and Innovation
2. Communication and Collaboration
3. Research and Information Fluency
4. Critical Thinking, Problem Solving, and Decision Making
5. Digital Citizenship
6. Technology Operations and Concepts

Students wrote a historical fiction book called That A Man Can Stand by Decatur Discovery Academy Grades 7-8 and publish it on Lulu. Check out student projects at That a Man Can Stand Project, Eliza's Blog and Podcast, Samuel's Blog and Podcast.

Ask Yourself: Are these elements addressed in the curriculum? Where?

These standards matter because they are about...

• nurturing compassion and collaboration
• preparing independent learners
• promoting a love of learning
• stimulating inquiry and thinking

My test for the new standards is whether they could result in motivating young people to go beyond the basics and ask high level questions.
Ask yourself: Will they challenge and engage young people in meaningful activities and assessments? How? Why?

Elements for Nesting

Examine the standards. Think about how they can be combined with content area standards to begin rebuilding and strengthening your curricula nest.

Favorite Parts of ISTE Standards

• NETS 1 - Creativity. Emphasis on creativity and original work.
  • Student Asks - How can I persuade my classmates to participate in the Diabetes Walk-a-thon? The key to learning is applying information to new and challenging situations. For instance, young people might create audio public service announcements using elements of persuasive writing. Watch PSAs at YouTube AdCouncil. Use simple technology such as the ReadWriteThink Persuasion Map and the Flip camera.
  • Students share their original work through podcasts through projects such as Radio WillowWeb.
  • Creativity Tool Websites
    • Go animate - Cell Project
    • SlideShare - slide sharing
    • VoiceThread. - multimedia (text, images); sharing; audio narration; commenting (audio and text)
• NETS 2 - Collaboration. Stresses the importance of working collaboratively with others.
  • Student Asks - How can a wiki help us create a more effective local science or history project?
  • Explore the Titanic in the Classroom project.
  • Collaborative Timeline tools: Dipity, MagicStudio, TimeGlider, TimeRime, Time Toast, and Xtimeline.
• NETS 3 - Research. Stresses the research process and associated information skills.
  • Student Asks - How do I find out more about the topics in an historical fiction book?
    • Cracks, Crevices, Caves: Explore Mammoth Cave with Stephen Bishop - Literature WebQuest with the book Journey to the Bottomless Pit by Elizabeth Mitchell.
    • Explore other ReadWriteThink tools like the Letter Generator.

• NETS 3 - Inquiry. Inquiry is at the core of the standards: questioning, exploring, assimilating, inferring, reflecting.
  • Student Asks - Why is the Middle East at the center of so many conflicts? Questioning, exploring, assimilating, inferring, reflecting involves much more than "doing a report."
  • A Single Shard by Linda Sue Park is set in Ancient Korea. Trace the journey of the young character. Compare Korea then and now through maps. Use tools such as Google Earth to bring the world alive.
  • While reading the book Out of the Dust or Bud, Not Buddy, young people may have questions about this time period. Use images from the Library of Congress to bring the time period alive. Record interviews with people in your community that remember this time period. Think about what would happen if book characters interacted. Map their movements and interactions.What was it like to live during The Great Depression?
• NETS 4 - Critical Thinking. Focus on high level thinking, problem solving and decision-making.
  • Student Asks - How do I evaluate information about political candidates, so I can make good choices?
    • Today information and misinformation is shared so quickly, it's sometimes difficult to keep track of the facts. Go to Fact Check from Annenberg for an example of a project that helps young people analyze the information presented by political groups.
    • Use PowerPoint-based evaluation tools. Download and explore Website Evaluation Form (PPT), Evaluation Activity (PPT), and Student Sample (PPT) PowerPoint Sidekick. Download and explore Sources (PPT) PowerPoint Sidekick.
• NETS 5 - Digital Citizenship & Personal Responsibility. Emphasis on ethical behavior.
  • Student Asks - What are the implications of how I represent myself on a social network?
    • Profile Publisher from ReadWriteThink helps young people learn to create profiles for social networks, novel studies, or other activities. Also, check out the lesson ideas that go with this online tool. Check out sample profile for the character Ikarus Jackson in Wings by Christopher Myers. You can also use a word processor to create a Facebook Profile. Check out the Google Docs templates 1 and 2. Also look at the MacBeth Project for ideas.
• NETS 6 - Technology and Real World Connections. Emphasis on authentic applications and independent thinking
  • Student Asks - How can I use Web 2.0 technology to access real-time science projects?
    • Use MarsPhoenix on Twitter.

Favorite Parts of AASL Standards

Explore the Standards for the 21st-Century Learner from AASL.

1. inquire, think critically, and gain knowledge;
   
2. draw conclusions, make informed decisions, apply knowledge to new situations, and create new knowledge;
   
3. share knowledge and participate ethically and productively as members of our democratic society;
   
4. pursue personal and aesthetic growth.

Students read a graphic novel such as Laika by Nick Abadzis and create their own comic using Comic Life exploring the fact and fiction in the book.

• Multiple Perspectives & Resources. Focuses on the need for multiple perspectives, resources, and ways of thinking.
  • Student Asks - Is Clean Coal an energy solution or an oxymoron?
  • When a group of young people read different books about a time period such as the American Revolutionary or Civil War, they begin to see different perspectives. They can compare the experiences of the characters, plots, and settings. Consider using literature circles and a wiki to help young people make these comparisons. Explore the Civil War Lit and other literature-rich examples.
• Curiosity, Pleasure, and a Passion for Learning. Emphasis on personal and aesthetic growth which is great, but difficult to measure in traditional ways.
  • Student Asks - I loved the Harry Potter series as a child and I'm into the Twilight series now, what's the next hot series? I'm ready to read!
  • Incorporate art, music, and leisure reading to promote a passion for learning.
  • Use and create Sidekicks:Digital Storytelling such as Tall Talls (PPT).

What kind of nester as you? How will you approach the new standards? Will you develop your own program?
Will you integrate within a single subject area or all areas?
Will you tackle everything at once or will you work in phases?
What are the pros and cons of each approach?

Build Strong Nests: A Dozen Keys

Strategy 1.
Design Learning Environments.
Shift your focus from designing instruction, to creating learning environments that immerse young people in information and technology.

Rethink your use of Google. Explore examples of how Google can be used throughout the inquiry process with the Fire Disaster example.

Example: Google Docs for collaborative technology tool and resource additions to curriculum maps.

Strategy 2.
Stress Social/Emotional Aspects
Think about the perspective of your students. How are you meeting their social and emotional needs through designing technology-rich activities?

Provide an online "home" using easy-to-use tools such as Google Sites. Check out Cybernauts.

For mathematics, check out Mr. Kuropatwa's Classes (Applied Math 40S - W07, W08, PreCalc 20S - F06, PreCalc 30S - F06, PreCal 40S - F06, W06, W07, APCalc AB - W07, Calc 45S - S06). He uses blogs, collaboration, and images to enhance the social and emotional aspects of his classes.

Strategy 3.
Connect to Content Areas.
See the big picture. Combine information and technology standards to update content standards.

Read The Day the World Exploded by Simon Winchester (adpated by Dwight Zimmerman). Connect social studies, science, and technology standards! Use historical photos, maps, and other resources from Wikipedia, USGS, USGS Krakatau, and other websites.

A mash-up is a web application hybrid. It combines data or functionality from two or more sources to create something new. These have become increasingly popular with Web 2.0 applications such as blogs, maps, and photo networks.

• With so many different sources of information, it's sometimes difficult to get the "big picture." Mash-ups provide a way to begin synthesizing information. For instance, Google Maps can provide a geographic view of content. At his blog Learn Digital History, John Leeconnects the Library of Congress Folklife Center audio interviews made after the bombing of Pearl Harbor with Google Maps. You see Buffalo New York on the map, then you can hear what the people said.
• Think of the ways young people could create their own mashups. Show them the Sherlock Holmes maps. Use the Mark Twain Stormfield Project for ideas. They've identified Mark Twain's Connections on Google Maps. Could your class create a project identifying this connections to other places around the world?

Strategy 4.
Reinvent with Technology Tools.
Use technology to address those things that are difficult without technology including discussions and collaborative writing..

Use starters found in PowerPoint Sidekicks: Book Blasts such as the Step into Reading sidekick (PPT).

Strategy 5.
Build Bridges.
Reach beyond your school. Create home-school-community connections through real-world assignments and projects. Get parents and community members involved with what's happening at school. Help young people see that what happens in school has applications beyond the walls of the school.

Share resources with parents and encourage them to participate. For instance, Journey North programs such as Hummingbirds can be followed at home. Use eBird, Frogwatch USA, Great Backyard Bird Count, Great Turtle Race, Journey North, School Yard Habitats, Whalenet, Wildlife Watch, Iditarod. Use other online project sites such as Global Schoolhouse Registry, Blue Zones, CIESE Online Classroom Projects, CyberFair Projects

Strategy 6.
Be a Model.
Use public domain images, cite sources and apply information and technology across the curriculum.

Go to Wikimedia Commons. Do a search for an animal. Notice all the public domain and open source materials available for young people to use.

New Technologies for New Standards

Learn more about connecting traditional and new technologies to address standards at Literature Ladders: Linking Books and Internet Resources. Explore technology tools and resources related to the book Mercy Watson to the Rescue by Kate DiCamillo.

Facilitate learning by creating pathfinders, learning guides, and WebQuest. Explore the Leviathan pathfinder.

Bring Learning Tools, Spaces, and Learners together with meaningful assignments, assessments, and opportunities for sharing.

Learning Tools

• texts
  
• illustrations
  
• photographs
  
• sounds
  
• videos
  
• animations

Learning Spaces

• email
  
• forums
  
• blogs, podcasts, RSS
  
• virtual conferencing
  
• collaborative web/wikis
  
• social networks
  
• management systems
  
• desktop spaces
  
• interactives

Learners

• Verbal-Linguistic
• Logical/Mathematical
  
• Visual/Spatial
• Bodily/Kinesthetic
  
• Musical/Rhythmic
• Intrapersonal
  
• Interpersonal
• Naturalist
  
• Existentialist

Go to Straight from the Horse's Mouth. Learn more about learning tools, learning spaces, and learners at High Tech Learning.

Final Thoughts

Each child is unique.
Each teacher is unique.
Each grade level is unqiue.
Each content area is unique.
Celebrate differences and learn from each other!

Learn More

Not sure where to get started? Get to know the Google tools. Then, learn more about learning tools, learning spaces, and learners:

• High Tech Learning
• Electronic Materials for Children and Young Adults
• Starters, Scaffolds and Sharing
• Activate. Explore many online workshops by Annette Lamb
• Edutopia. Explore Technology Integration section.

Learn more about the national plan and technology standards:

• National Education Plan (PDF)
• NETS - National Educational Technology Standards from ISTE.
• Standards for the 21st-Century Learner from AASL

For many more ideas, go to my website at eduscapes.com

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