Librarians and Teachers Working to Incorporate 21st Century Skills

Posted on November 9, 2015November 9, 2015 by Becky Putzier

This week I explore the first and sixth ISTE Coaching Standards through the Digital Education Leadership program at Seattle Pacific University. Through my studies, the terms “21st century skills” and “21st century learners” continue to pop up. These phrases have been used in abundance over the last decade, but what do they really mean? And how do I, as a school librarian, help incorporate them into the classroom? In an effort to succinctly articulate my musings, my question this week is as follows:

What are 21st century skills and how can they be incorporated into the classroom in a meaningful way that enhances the curriculum?

Before I can explore the implementation of 21st century skills, I needed to pause and illustrate what a 21st century learner might look like:

The National Council of Teachers of English define a 21st century learner as someone who is able to:

Develop proficiency and fluency with the tools of technology,

Build intentional cross-cultural connections and relationships with others so to pose and solve problems collaboratively and strengthen independent thought,

Design and share information for global communities to meet a variety of purposes,

Manage, analyze, and synthesize multiple streams of simultaneous information,

Create, critique,

ISTE Teacher Standard 4: Roll Out a Successful 1:1 Program Through Phases

Posted on May 24, 2015 by Becky Putzier

This week I explore the fourth ISTE Teacher Standard: Promote and Model Digital Citizenship and Responsibility through the Digital Education Leadership program at Seattle Pacific University and I examine how I can implement the following question into my own practice: “How can teachers understand local and global societal issues and responsibilities in an evolving digital culture and exhibit legal and ethical behavior in their professional practices?”

My school recently revisited our Acceptable Use Policy (AUP) after not having revised it in over two years. We found several discrepancies and have noted that several parents, while they signed the document, still had an array of questions about the one-to-one laptop program and what the laptops should (and shouldn’t) be used for both on and off campus. With this in mind, the school’s Tech Task Force debated the idea of requiring students and parents to attend an orientation in addition to just signing the AUP. I reviewed the policies and procedures of several other schools in an effort to find what works best for the majority. It seems, there is no majority. All schools approach this issue differently, with varying levels of success. What works for one school, doesn’t work for the … Read More

ISTE Teacher Standard 2: Digital Badge Learning

Posted on April 27, 2015 by Becky Putzier

This week I am diving into the second ISTE Teacher Standard: Design and Develop Digital Age Learning Experiences and Assessments through the Digital Education Leadership program at Seattle Pacific University and I am attempting to answer the following question: “How can teachers design, develop, and evaluate authentic learning experiences and assessments incorporating contemporary tools and resources to maximize content learning in context and to develop the knowledge, skills, and attitudes identified in the ISTE Standards for Students?”

My school is in the midst of redesigning our middle school enrichment program. Currently, students participate in classes where all the students are learning about the same topic (graphic design, robotics, coding). While this is a great program and some of the students are very interested and engaged, a large handful of students have no interest in the topic and, therefore, are very reluctant to participate. Several discussions have revealed that the enrichment program needs to be revamped for next year, where students have more choice in determining what their area of focus will be. One idea, suggested by an outside consultant, would be to use digital badge learning to allow students to have individual choice and ownership in their learning.

The … Read More

Exploring the ASSURE Model Through Teacher Education

Posted on March 12, 2015March 15, 2015 by Becky Putzier

This quarter in the Digital Education Leadership program through Seattle Pacific University, I have been working together with my classmates to explore the ASSURE Model, an instructional model used to design lessons that effectively incorporate the use of technology to enhance student learning. This model identifies six steps in the planning process and those steps form the acronym, ASSURE:

What Does This Look Like?

My classmates and I created a face-to-face session for educators who are interested in incorporating technology into their classroom but are looking for basic management techniques to help them be comfortable and successful. The design of this lesson took place over an entire quarter, working on one of four phases and then seeking feedback from the professors before moving forward. This format allowed us to gain outside perspective, make revisions to the lesson plan and then use that feedback as we transitioned into the following steps of the ASSURE Model.

Here you will find our plans for the project, including the handouts that will be provided to session participants:

Reflection on the Process

What worked well?

I really enjoyed being able to meet with my classmates and work on this in-person, we all talked … Read More

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school librarian exploring digital education leadership

Digital Citizenship