Summary

=Summary of 21st Century Skills Addressed in the Technology Day=

Throughout our technology day we have included a multitude of varying technologies to engage student learning. There are nineteen different types of technology used in the nine content area lessons providing variety for students. By participating in our technology day, students will be given the opportunity to interact with technology, some they are familiar with as well as with technology that is relatively new to the academic realm. Our hope is that by including these technologies into the standard classroom curriculum our students will be more involved in the learning process, be able to express different multiple intelligences, and most importantly enjoy the subject matter they are learning about. Encompassed within the lessons you will find specific curriculum standards that are being met, however there are also many 21st Century Skills that will be addressed as students participate and complete projects in each of the content area lessons. Many of the 21st Century Skills are addressed including the categories of Life and Career Skills, 21st Century Themes, Learning and Innovation Skills, and Information, Media and Technology Skills.

The 21st Century Life and Career Skills of "working appropriately and productively with others" will be addressed through the group work students are involved in throughout the content area lessons. This group work is happening in person to person contact with production of videos, as well as in virtual settings of blogs and wikis. Other Life and Career Skills that will be addressed include from the productivity and accountability area "demonstrating diligence and a positive work ethic", as well as the leadership and responsibility area of "leveraging strengths of others to accomplish a goal". Within their groups, students will need to be sure that they divide the tasks up appropriately depending on their skill level with the technology used, and they will also need to be sure to get their work done on time in order to not detract from the grades and work of their fellow classmates. This will be expounded upon by time lines and specific guidelines given with each project, but in the wide spectrum they will be responsible for the success or failure of their own groups.

In the area of 21st Century Themes the Health literacy skills of "using available information to make appropriate health-related decisions" will be specifically addressed in the Health lesson, while "understanding preventative physical and mental health measures including proper diet, nutrition, exercise, risk avoidance and stress reduction" will be addressed in the Physical Education lesson. In Health class students will be researching different categories of drugs and writing skits to perform for their peers to convince them that taking the drugs is not a good health choice, thus helping students to become more informed and able to make educated decisions that will impact their future. In Physical Education class students will be able to experience how preventative physical measures such as exercise can be made fun through the use of the Wii Fit balance board. By seeing video games integrated into the school curriculum the hope is that students will see that doing things to enhance your health can be integrated into other activities that they already enjoy. Aside from Health Literacy skills there also many learning and innovations skills addressed during the technology day.

In the section for Learning and Innovation Skills the lessons included are addressing students 21st Century Skills in the categories of creativity and innovation skills, critical thinking and problem skills, as well as communication and collaboration skills. In regard to creativity and innovation skills the skill of "demonstrating originality and inventiveness in work" is addressed in many of the lessons, but is especially true in the Music and Art lessons. In the Music lessons students are given the freedom to express themselves by creating their own cell phone ring tones, while in the Art lesson students are given the freedom of choice in ways to enhance their photographs in order to show their creativity. Critical thinking and problem solving skills in regard to framing, analyzing, and synthesizing information in order to solve problems and answer questions" are also prevalent throughout the technology day. An excellent example of this skill would be in the Foreign Language lesson where students must take what knowledge they have of the language and create a podcast that informs their fellow classmates of an object they need to bring in from home. This skill is also addressed in the Social Studies lesson when students are analyzing propaganda posters in order to understand the messages they portray and how they fit in to the overall climate surrounding World War II. Critical Thinking and problem solving skills are also present in the Mathematics lesson where students must think critically about the product they choose to research and then about how the relationship between the price of the product and the Consumer Reports score are shown on the scatter plot graph produced using their TI-83 graphing calculator. In addition to critical thinking skills, there are many communication and collaboration skills addressed in the subject area lessons. Students are constantly engaging in conversations with their peers in order to accomplish tasks and must be able to work effectively in their respective group to accomplish the tasks presented to them. The specific skill of "articulating thoughts and ideas clearly and effectively through speaking and writing" can be seen in many lessons, but is easily identifiable in the Science lesson. In this lesson students are required to research global warming and create a podcast and power point that expresses their view on the issue. In order for the audience to understand their stance on the issue they must express their ideas in a way that will be easy for them to understand and identify with. The skills of "demonstrating the ability to work effectively with diverse teams" and "assuming shared responsibility for a collaborative work" are present in lessons in English, Health, and Social Studies as students are required to contribute effectively in a group setting in order to accomplish the assigned tasks.

Many of the most widely used 21st Century Skills arise in our technology day in the area of Information, Media and Technology Skills in the categories of information literacy, media literacy and ICT literacy. Being that the focus of the entire day's learning revolves around technology, these skills are most prevalent. Information literacy, specifically the skill of "accessing information efficiently and effectively, evaluating information critically and competently and using information accurately and creatively for the issue or problem at hand", is addressed most prominently in the Science lesson. In this lesson students must gather information about global warming and then apply it in a way that it supports their personal opinion. In regard to media literacy, the skill of "understanding how media messages are constructed, for what purposes and using which tools, characteristics and conventions" is present in the Social Studies lesson. In this lesson students must analyze the media propaganda posters that surrounded World War II and then have the option to create their own posters which use similar tactics to convince people to agree with them. Through this Social Studies lesson they should be able to gain an understanding of the thinking that is done by the media to effectively gain the support of the common population. All of the lessons in the technology day address the ICT Literacy skills of "using digital technology, communication tools and/or networks appropriately to access, manage, integrate, evaluate, and create information in order to function in a knowledge economy" and "using technology as a tool to research, organize, evaluate and communicate information, and the possession of a fundamental understanding of the ethical/legal issues surrounding the access and use of information" in some way.

Gaining a better understanding of 21st Century Skills will help students to become increasingly successful in their lives beyond high school. Therefore by allowing them many opportunities to interact with various different types of technology during their education, teachers are also adding to their ability to be meaningful contributors to society. Within our technology day we have included the following technologies: Windows Movie Maker, DVD video cameras, Adobe Photoshop, Google Sites, Podcasts, Blogs, Internet, Microsoft Word, Graphing Calculators, Acid Music Studio, Cell Phones, Nintendo Wii, Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Power Point, Audacity, United Streaming, Wikis, and Microsoft Publisher. We hope that exposing students to these technologies will expand their knowledge of how technology can be used in different realms, as well as improve their competency in manipulating them for future applications.

APA Citations:
Partnership for 21st Century Skills. (2004). //The partnership for 21st century// //skills-Framework for 21st century learning//. Retrieved November 1, 2008, from http://www.21stcenturyskills.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=254&Itemid=120