The next step in my coursework in the Seattle Pacific University, Digital Education Leadership program is to work my way through the ISTE (International Society for Technology in Education) 2016 student standards. First, looking at ISTE standard 1 – Empowered Learners, and specifically for my students I will focus on how “students use technology to seek feedback that informs and improves their practice and to demonstrate their learning in a variety of ways” (ISTE, 1c). I look at professionals outside my academic or educational field and see how every job now integrates technology in some way. Continuing on that line, I am curious about ways to practically implement tech into the middle school language arts classroom. Also, how can I help facilitate my students to see the connections between their desired field and necessary tech skills by implementing these practical units?
As Dr. Charles Kivunja explains in the International Journal of Higher Learning; in his piece entitled “Teaching students to learn and to work well with 21st century skills: Unpacking the career and life skills domain of the new learning paradigm” shifting workplace is changing things quickly, and students need to adapt to the new expectations. “In the 21st-century work environment, working conditions are changing at a very fast and increasing pace. As a result, employers actively seek out graduates that are not only resourceful and adaptable, but also able to be flexible and have the ability to adapt to changing circumstances and environments and to welcome new ideas, and new ways of completing tasks” (2015, pg. 3). I currently work in a district that has a pretty complete curriculum scope and sequence that I need to fit my idea within. Therefore, I attempted to find ways for my students to use technology and still demonstrate their learning within the confines of the predetermined middle school language arts units. Specifically, the reader’s workshop units with titles centered around themes in the district “Young Wonders” in 6th and “Courage to be an Individual” in 7th grade. I took into consideration that the skills I wanted students to work on were “flexibility and adaptability (which) lead to success whereas the lack of these skills leads to stagnation and failure” (2015, pg. 3). With these pieces in mind, I found a simple blog post on Edutopia, A Hero’s Journey for the 21st Century by Betty Ray from February 22, 2012. Now she wrote it four years ago, but I think her message in this post and then the following links to the actual projects she references are certainly still relevant.
Betty Ray makes it clear that it might be time to put aside the Homer and the Star Wars and concentrate more on the community and who is a hero to the students. The My Hero Project gives a chance for the students to use 21st-century skills with autonomy and the ability to deliver the project in different mediums. This project creates all kinds of new quests and outlets for expression for the young people. As we have new issues of identity and digital citizenship to combat with and educate our students about. With this project, the student’s ability to self-express becomes limitless. For example, the 2016 Emerging Artist Award went to a young man named Trey Carlisle. In their press release about his project and success with the My Hero project it stated —
Since 8th grade, Carlisle has been telling important stories to fight injustice and has produced award-winning documentaries that speak out against violence and discrimination. Trey’s is a passionate voice for positive change in the world.Deeply committed to social justice, Carlisle learned about filmmaking through The Righteous Conversations Project, an organization that pairs teens with Holocaust survivors to share their important stories. When he had an opportunity to travel to Cambodia with a group called Digital Storytelling Adventures, he created the short film “Us and Us,” a documentary about dehumanization.
I also read the teacher’s guide, and I think it has a ton of great ways I could link this project to my students and the unit in the middle school classroom. And to reference Dr. Kivunja again, “there is an increasing awareness that the skills that led to success in the 20th century are no longer sufficient to lead to success and prosperity in the 21st century. Aware of the need for change in teaching, learning, assessment and work so as to be effective participants in the 21st-century conditions” (2015, pg. 2). I believe we need to shift mindsets to ensure we are truly created successful citizens of the next generation.
Project Website –
My Hero Project – http://myhero.com/
Resources –
Kivunja, C. (2014). Teaching students to learn and to work well with 21st-century skills: Unpacking the career and life skills domain of the new learning paradigm. International Journal of Higher Education, 4(1), p1. Retrieved from http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1060566.pdf
My Hero Educators Guide. (2012). Retrieved January 13, 2017, from http://myhero.com/pdf/Educators%20Guidev2.pdf
Ray, B. (2012, February 22). A Hero’s Journey for the 21st Century. Retrieved January 14, 2017, from https://www.edutopia.org/blog/heros-journey-21st-century-betty-ray
