The following is a reflection from my exciting and special day today, which involves the 4 C's (21st Century Skills)!
The K-12 Curriculum and Staff Development Committee visited my classroom, and since I'm on that committee, I was able to make visits to a few other classrooms as well. I love it when people visit my classroom! I also got to ride the school bus to different sites with some of my incredible colleagues. Who doesn't enjoy being chauffeured? The committee was also treated to a wonderful lunch! Who doesn't love a free lunch?
The following rubric was used during the visits to look for evidence of 21st Century Skills.
Students used their iPads and worked with a partner to create a product that illustrated how to solve one-step equations with integers. 6.EE.5 "Understand solving an equation or inequality as a process of answering a question: which values from a specified set, if any, make the equation or inequality true? Use substitution to determine whether a given number in a specified set makes an equation or inequality true."
Creativity
I struggled with this during today's lesson. I saw one group using a number line. I said, "That is a great example of creativity!" As I was walking by another group, I saw a beautiful picture of a hot pink My Little Pony. I was intrigued as ponies and hot pink are two of my favorite things! I asked the student, "Is this part of your creativity?" "YES," was the excited response. I then said, "That's great! How does the pony relate to math?" The student became heavy-hearted. I said, "What if the pony is talking about the math?" The excitement returned. The next group I talked to had finished their project. I was excited to see it. Their project was one minute and the last slide was an autographed group selfie. I love selfies and was truly delighted that this was their closing slide! I was also delighted that the group solved the equation correctly and attended to precision in doing so! I was sad, however, because no one used any hashtags! I think it is a challenge for students to be creative in math. It's hard to teach someone how to be creative.
Collaboration
I struggle with this because of the 1:1 environment in which I teach. I hate to admit it, but it is sooooooo easy for me to have students work independently most of the time because of their iPads. They are engaged on the iPad! It's easy for me to say, "Work alone and create _______ on your iPad." I definitely need to take a more proactive approach to student collaboration in my classroom, especially in math.
Communication
Without the guidance, support and direction I receive from SMP 3: Construct Viable Arguments and Critique the Reasoning of Others, student communication would be lacking. Communication would be better if my new classroom had the same FrontRow sound system as my old classroom. I miss my student microphones. I really miss my microphone.
Critical Thinking
Critical thinking, I believe, occurs best and most naturally when students are given the time and opportunity to persevere. I refuse to do the thinking for my students.
I was absolutely blown away when I went to an elementary SDC class. This class was doing just about everything on the PCS 4 C's rubric! It was incredible! Students were working together to solve real world division problems.
Concluding thoughts and take aways: it's an exciting time to be teaching, the possibilities are endless, the 4 C's are an opportunity to increase rigor, engagement, success and confidence.
#4C's #creativity #collaboration #communication #criticalthinking
Disclaimer: It's late, please disregard any typos, sentence structure or grammar issues.
