Preparing our children for the 21 st Century

PREPA

RING O

UR

CHILDREN F

OR THE 2

1ST

CENTURY

WH

AT

DO

ES

IT

ME

AN

TO

BE

A R

EA

DE

R?

Rochelle I. Mitlak, Ed.D.Director, Curriculum and InstructionBoard of EducationOctober 22, 2014

21ST CENTURY SKILLSStudents must be able to set personal learning goals,

self-check for understanding, access tools and resources for enhancing their understanding, and use what they have learned in real-world contexts. These skills are vital for success in a post-industrial world where it is more important to now access information and be a self-motivated learner than it is to memorize content and processes. Teachers must move beyond “teaching content” to teaching students how to learn – that is, find and evaluate content, connect with prior knowledge, and use that knowledge to solve authentic problems.

Robert Marzano, 2012

GOALS FOR OUR STUDENTSset personal learning goals

self-check for understanding

access tools and resources for enhancing understanding

use what was learned in real-world contexts

GOALS FOR INSTRUCTIONteach students how to learn

find and evaluate content

connect with prior knowledge

use that knowledge to solve authentic problems

HOW DID WE LEARN?Figured out what the teacher knew.

Came up with the “right” answer.

Kept our hands down unless we knew we were right.

Responded to teacher questions.

LEARNING CAN BE POWERFUL

What do we want our students to learn?

How do we want our students to learn?

How do we help students become more powerful in their own learning?

How do we allow for an intrinsic desire to know?

LEARNER ACTIVE TECHNOLOGY INFUSED

CLASSROOM (LATI)Learning is self-directed.

Environment offers opportunities to explore.

Activities require students to apply thinking and problem solving skills.

Innovation and creativity are valued and an integral part of student work.

CURRENT THINKINGConstruct an understanding.

Support thinking with evidence.

Take risks.

Respond to questions from peers and teachers.

READERS HAVE POWERWhere is meaning?

READ THIS

Dessert

CONSTRUCTING MEANINGVisualizing

Using background knowledge

Identifying critical elements

Making connections

Comparing and/or contrasting

READING ALL TEXTS“The analysis of reader motivation used in

the instructional episodes for the influential and noninfluential teachers revealed distintinctly different patterns. …influential teachers relied on internal reader motivation during 89 percent (25 of 28) of the instructional episodes and used external motivation in only 11 percent (3 of 28) of their episodes.” (1994, Theoretical Models and Processes of Reading p. 290)

CONSTRUCTING AN

UNDERSTANDING

1/2

COMPARING/CONTRASTING

1/2 vs 1/3

SUPPORTING OUR LEARNERS

Provide evidence.

Explain your thinking.

Make connections to real life.

Create or offer a visual description.