Ramage Elementary

GLOBAL  21  http://wvde.state.wv.us/global21/podcast/

 WHY IS PUBLIC EDUCATION CHANGING?

April 6, 2009

Dear Parent or Guardian,

You may have heard rumblings from your children about how school is getting harder and they’re right. School is changing, and it’s changing for all the right reasons. We want to make sure your children are prepared for the world that awaits them.

The U.S. Department of Labor estimates that today's students will have 10 to 14 jobs by the age of 38. Thirty or 40 years ago, we knew the kinds of jobs our students would have. Now, 80 percent of the jobs today’s students will have don’t even exist yet. That’s why it’s important to learn the same skills that children across the world are learning.

Employers, like Verizon, Intel and Cisco, tell us they want workers who are able to think strategically, use technology wisely, work collaboratively and communicate effectively. Employees are expected to have these skills their first day on the job. In today's weak economy, the resumes of those who don't speak the language of the 21st century are quickly passed over.

We have spent the last few years working to improve our education system in West Virginia. We call 21st century teaching and learning -- Global21: Students deserve it. The world demands it.

Traditional subjects, including math, science, English, social studies and foreign languages, remain at the core of our program. However, a focus on these subjects alone is no longer sufficient in today’s global economy if we want our children to succeed in school, work and life. We must make school more relevant and appropriate for today’s young people.

 

Incorporating Project Based Learning, which shifts away from the traditional teacher-centered lessons to learning activities that are student-centered, will help fine-tune performance skills, including communication and technology literacy.

You will be an important part as we explore new ways to challenge your children's thinking. Global21 can help children develop valuable skills. If you have any questions concerning Global21, I encourage you to contact me, your child's teacher, at 304-369-0765.

Sincerely,

 Mr. Barker, Principal

 

Global 21

School is changing, and it’s changing for all the right reasons. It’s called 21st century teaching and learning -- Global21: Students deserve it. The world demands it.

Today's kids will have 10 to 14 jobs by the age of 38. Eighty percent of those jobs don’t even exist yet. That’s why it’s important for them to learn the same skills that children across the world are learning.  Discover more about 21st century teaching and learning by logging on to global21.k12.wv.us

School is changing, and it’s changing for all the right reasons. It’s called 21st century teaching and learning -- Global21: Students deserve it. The world demands it.

Kids need core subjects like math, science, social studies and English, but they also need to know how to communicate, how to work in teams, how to problem solve, and to understand other languages and cultures of the world.  Learn more about helping students succeed in the 21st century by logging onto global21.k12.wv.us

School is changing, and it’s changing for all the right reasons. It’s called 21st century teaching and learning -- Global21: Students deserve it. The world demands it.

Today’s students need to be taught how to find solutions to problems on their own, to use technology, to use money wisely, and to develop good health habits as responsible world citizens. Learn how by logging onto global21.k12.wv.us

School is changing, and it’s changing for all the right reasons. It’s called 21st century teaching and learning -- Global21: Students deserve it. The world demands it.

In the 21st century, students need to know how to use computers, technology, digital tools and other resources to learn, organize and apply knowledge. They also can benefit from a second or third language. Learn more about 21st century learning by logging onto global21.k12.wv.us

School is changing, and it’s changing for all the right reasons. It’s called 21st century teaching and learning -- Global21: Students deserve it. The world demands it.

To be successful, 21st century kids need 21st century skills. They need to think strategically, use technology wisely, work collaboratively and communicate effectively. It’s what businesses like Verizon, Intel and Cisco say they want in their employees. Learn more by logging onto global21.k12.wv.us

School is changing, and it’s changing for all the right reasons. It’s called 21st century teaching and learning -- Global21: Students deserve it. The world demands it.

In today’s global economy, students need to understand and appreciate cultural differences so that they can become responsible and productive world citizens. Learn more about 21st century learning by logging onto global21.k12.wv.us

School is changing, and it’s changing for all the right reasons. It’s called 21st century teaching and learning -- Global21: Students deserve it. The world demands it.

Resumes of those who don't speak the language of the 21st century are quickly passed over. School is becoming more relevant with core subjects and real-world context to help young people succeed at school and in life. Learn more about 21st century learning by logging onto global21.k12.wv.us

School is changing, and it’s changing for all the right reasons. It’s called 21st century teaching and learning -- Global21: Students deserve it. The world demands it.

Today’s kids need to be taught what to do when they don’t know what to do. They should be active learners who discover how to read printed material and information on the Internet and decide if it is true and valuable. They take responsibility for their own education. Learn more about 21st century learning by logging onto global21.k12.wv.us

 

 

 

 

 

 

Students Need New Skills for Success in the 21st Century

 

CHARLESTON, W.Va. – Visitors to Barbara Black’s third grade classroom at West Teays Elementary in Putnam County soon realize something is different.

 

No neat rows of kid-sized desks. In their place are tables and chairs that make it easier for her students to collaborate and work in groups. Technology, including digital cameras, a projector and interactive whiteboard, handheld devices, is in constant use. Science is emphasized with a variety of centers using small animals like guinea pigs, a tarantula and rainbow trout, to pique student interest.

 

Black says textbooks don't grab kids. So instead of doing 30 math problems, she has her students use their PDAs to go around the classroom, conduct surveys and tabulate the results.

HURRICANE, W.Va. -- In the early 1980s, someone asked Barbara Black to teach a Sunday School class at Bethel Baptist Church in Hurricane. As an only child, Black said she didn't know where to begin working with youngsters. But she gave it a try, and something just clicked.

On Tuesday, Black, 46, was recognized as one of the nation's best teachers by the Milken Family Foundation. She is one of 80 teachers from around the country to receive the foundation's Educator Award, the teaching field's equivalent of the Oscar.

"I guess it was a higher power telling me" to teach, Black said of her start in the classroom.

The award came as a surprise for the teacher at West Teays Elementary in Putnam County.

Tension had been building Tuesday morning, as the school's 500 students were called to an assembly.

They sat cross-legged on the floor of the red and grey gymnasium, sprawled out, fidgeting and turning around to talk to their classmates as Jane Foley, a representative of the Milken foundation tried to explain what the big deal was about the award.

Teachers, including Black, filed in to stand beneath a basketball hoop while Foley played an elaborate guessing game with students before the winner's name was announced.

When she heard her name, Black was surprised, stunned and visibly shaking as she received the $25,000 award, which includes a trip to a conference in California.

The award recognizes Black for her efforts to integrate technology into teaching and for providing a model for the state's goal to teach students "21st century skills" - a new emphasis on critical thinking and problem solving.

"In anything, I don't think there's a one catch-all in anything," Black said Tuesday. So she picks and chooses what methods to use, and pulls out what works.

What works one year with a group of students may not work the next, she said. But she always volunteers to try pilot projects. Even if some don't stick, she said all of the methods add to her repertoire.

Her third-grade classroom at the Hurricane elementary school shows a subtle and apparently unique balance between the old teaching methods and new ones

There are six desktop computers, but every student also has a handheld computer, called a PDA, that they use to e-mail back and forth with Black.

The shelves in her classroom are also crammed with books, and scattered around the room are tanks filled with rainbow trout, hissing cockroaches, a guinea pig and a tarantula.

The trout tank, for instance, is hooked up to a camera that shows the growth of the fish on a TV screen in the classroom. Black's students come up with the narratives for the trout like they would if they were the hosts of a nature show.

By springtime, the students will have followed the development of the trout from 200 five-week-old eggs to young fish that they will release into Paint Creek on the lower end of Kanawha County. The students will help re-establish the habitat in a creek that "wasn't real fish-friendly," Black said.

So with just one tank of fish, Black will teach her students biology, conservation, storytelling and how to use technology.

She "teaches students to a much higher level than is usual," said state school Superintendent Steve Paine, who attended Tuesday's assembly.

Black says textbooks don't grab kids. So instead of doing 30 math problems, she has her students use their PDAs to go around the classroom, conduct surveys and tabulate the results. Or she might have them develop one good question, communicate with one another and gather data and then find several ways to come up with the answer. Then Black shows them how to analyze the data's mean and mode and do the math.

"You have to guide them to it," she said. "At first they're so programmed to spitting out a right or wrong answer and not learning the procedures to get there."

It was these techniques that made the Milken foundation take notice of Black.

As part of her award, Black will go to a national education conference in Los Angeles and receive $25,000 for her own use.

"We're really trying to pamper and bring honor to teachers, something they rarely get and should get more often," said Foley, the senior vice president of the foundation.

Black said she plans to use the money to help pay her son's college tuition and get her own doctorate degree.

She said she also wants to use the award's prestige to be an ambassador for teachers and fight the "bad rap" they sometimes get. Teaching for Black isn't a 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. job, she said. At home she isn't just grading papers, she is coming up with ideas.

"You want to strive to be a better teacher," Black said. "You want to show kids that you're also a lifelong learner."

Contact writer Ry Rivard at ry.riv...@dailymail.com">ry.riv...@dailymail.com or 304-348-1796.

In doing so, her students not only learn subject matter and how to apply their knowledge, but also higher order 21st century learning skills, including collaboration, problem solving and critical thinking.

"You have to guide them," Black said. "At first they're so programmed to spitting out a right or wrong answer and not learning the procedures to get there."

Such 21st century learning shifts away from traditional teacher-centered lessons and emphasizes student-centered learning integrated with real world issues, exactly the type of education reform President Barack Obama has proposed for America’s classrooms.

“I am calling on states that are setting their standards far below where they ought to be to stop low-balling expectations for our kids. The solution to low test scores is not lower standards – it’s tougher, clearer standards,” Obama said recently in describing his education plan. “And I am calling on our nation’s governors and state education chiefs to develop standards and assessments that don’t simply measure whether students can fill in a bubble on a test, but whether they possess 21st century skills like problem solving and critical thinking, entrepreneurship and creativity.”

Obama’s vision for America is West Virginia’s vision, one began in 2005 with a self-reflection process. State education leaders soon realized West Virginia schools were preparing students for our past instead of their future. West Virginia, under the direction of state Superintendent Steve Paine, then set out to systemically change not only what teachers teach our children but how they teach them.

To do so, the West Virginia State Board of Education added world-class rigor to core subjects and aligned state standards with national standards in the National Assessment for Education Progress (NAEP), ACT, and SAT, as well as with international standards in the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) and the Trends in International Math and Science Study (TIMSS).

The result is 21st century teaching and learning -- Global21: Students deserve it. The world demands it. The plan helps public schools move beyond outdated instruction models and guide all children toward mastery of higher level core subjects and complex concepts, equipping them with the intellectual capital and finely honed skills needed to excel in a competitive digital world. 

“Core subject knowledge is necessary, but no longer enough,” Paine said. “Today’s employers, such as Cisco, Intel and Verizon, tell us they value people who have both knowledge and skills. They want employees who are smart and who know how to communicate, collaborate, analyze and solve problems.”

Employees are expected to have these skills their first day on the job. In today's weak economy, the resumes of those who don't speak the language of the 21st century are quickly passed over.

The U.S. Department of Labor estimates that today's students will have 10 to 14 jobs by the age of 38. Thirty or 40 years ago, educators knew the kinds of jobs students would have. Now, 80 percent of the jobs today’s students will have don’t even exist. That’s why it’s important to learn the same skills that children across the world are learning.

“Twenty-first century learning is active, engaging and inspires students to strive for a deeper understanding of the subjects they're studying,” Paine said.  “The time has come to introduce 21st century rigor into all our classrooms across West Virginia. We have a long road ahead of us but I am confident that our educators will master a new way of teaching and our students will excel on national and international assessments thanks to Global21.”

 

 

title

Educators

 

In the 21st century learning environment, as educators you will

· develop lessons that build on knowledge, comprehension and

application to include higher-order thinking skills, such as

problem solving, synthesis, analysis and evaluation;

 

· free students to work on their own and collaborate with others

on group projects to foster greater comprehension;

 

· use integrated and interdisciplinary curriculum to spur student

interest and make the most of their experiences and

talents;

 

· orchestrate learning in a technology-rich environment that

includes blogs, multimedia projects, wireless Internet

access, smart boards and projectors, among other tools;

 

· engage students in real-world problems and issues important

to humanity and global harmony;

 

· set high expectations for all students.

 

What should I do?

 

· Visit the Teach 21 Web site at http://

wvde.state.wv.us/teach21 to access

model lessons, unit plans,

instructional guides and Project

Based Learning units that provide

examples of 21st century instruction.

 

· Change will not happen without your

enthusiastic support and leadership

because parents and students will

turn to you for guidance.

 

· Make a personal commitment to learn

and understand all components of 21st

 

century teaching and learning.

 

· Be proactive in transforming your

classroom into a 21st century learning

center.

 

· Work with other teachers at your grade

level or in your content area to critically

study, identify and explain the

requirements in each objective of the

West Virginia 21st Century Content

Standards and Objectives (CSOs).

See http://wvde.state.wv.us/policies/

csos.html.

 

· Incorporate technology, Project Based

Learning and real-world instruction

practices into your classroom daily.

 

· Notify your principal or superintendent

that you would like to attend a

Global21 professional development

session offered by school, county or

state leadership to learn more about

standards-focused instruction.

 

· Be an advocate for 21st century

learning in your school and

community.

 

For more information visit global21.k12.wv.us

 

How is public education changing?

 

· The West Virginia Department of Education collaborated with

educators, parents and community members to create

frameworks for high-performing schools and classrooms.

 

· Teams of master teachers statewide then developed rigorous

world-class curriculum standards for all content areas.

 

· These more stringent, research-based content standards and

objectives drive instruction, not textbooks.

 

· The content focuses on core curriculum as well as

performance skills like critical thinking, communication and

collaboration.

 

· Instead of passive, teacher-centered instruction, learning now is

more active and student centered with the teacher as a

facilitator.

 

· The focus in the 21st century moves from fact memorization to

what students know and can do after the details are forgotten.

 

This school year West Virginia added world-class rigor to traditional core subjects and aligned

state standards with national and international standards. We call it Global21.