9486 in the collection
Teachers to gain skills, tools for 21st century classrooms
Ohanian Comment: All of those who believe that Power Point better equips teachers "to teach problem solving and other higher order thinking skills," should read the cogent and very funny work of PowerPoint is Evil. In it, he says, "Power Corrupts. PowerPoint Corrupts Absolutely." In another essay, Tufte presents the Gettysburg Address in PowerPoint. From the above links, you will get links to Tufte's website. It is well worth the trip.
Note who is paying for all this retraining of West Virginia teachers. He who pays the piper. . . .
Funny thing: Six years ago the West Virginia state department of education was trumpeting all the achievement gained from their 5-year partnership with IBM to retrain teachers to use 21st century skills.
West Virginia's Students Scoring Higher with IBM School Initiative
Posted: June 12, 2001
Teaching and learning in West Virginia have improved after educators began using technology-rich curricula, according to a new three-year independent study released today by the Center for Children and Technology (CCT) of Education Development Center, Inc.
West Virginia's Reinventing Education program, a partnership between IBM and the West Virginia Department of Education, has resulted in middle and high school students making substantial gains in all curriculum areas, according to the report released in Washington D.C. at the Hudson Institute Achieving Large-Scale Education Reform Round Table Discussion. . . .
I spent months carefully going through West Virginia's computer assisted, juried lessons in what they called the Learning Village. I have written about these lessons in Why Is Corporate America Bashing Our Public Schools?
The article below is authorless. Maybe that's why it reads like a press release. The 21st century skill lingo is strictly boilerplate.
I am not against technology. I am against boilerplate thinking about its usefulness.
authorless
CHARLESTON -- The West Virginia Department of Education has launched a comprehensive effort to provide West Virginia's 20,000 teachers with multiple opportunities this summer to hone their 21st century skills.
Many of the summer professional development sessions will focus on newly adopted content standards and objectives, which add rigor and relevance and incorporate 21st century skills into the curriculum, as well as new assessments to better gauge learning.
"The West Virginia Board of Education and the Department of Education know that change as called for in the 21st Century Learning initiative must occur system-wide if it is to be successful," said state Superintendent Steve Paine. "Providing quality professional development is the key to helping teachers become literate with information and communication technology so that they can transform West Virginia's schools into 21st century learning centers."
Without professional development to gain such knowledge, teachers will be hampered in their abilities to teach the other 21st century skills that West Virginia has deemed important, such as global awareness; financial, economic and business literacy; civic literacy; health and wellness; information and communication skills; thinking and reasoning skills; and personal and work place productivity skills, Paine said.
The first of two week-long Teacher Leadership Institute took place recently in Charleston for southern West Virginia educators. An institute for northern West Virginia is planned for Morgantown July 29 to Aug. 1.
The sessions focus on the digital learner, 21st century content in the context of real world applications using 21st century tools, quality instruction design, performance assessment and strategic planning. Participants learn how to integrate new standards into a lesson, among other skills. Handouts are be nowhere to be found. Instead, everyone receives a laptop with data and resources already loaded onto the computer.
Each county has identified a three- to 20-member team of educators that include central office staff, teachers and principals. The idea is that each team will then help plan how 21st century skills will best be incorporated into their county system. The session will be followed later this year with webinars, regional meetings and extended learning sessions to continue the transition to 21st century learning and teaching.
"This is West Virginia teachers teaching West Virginia teachers," said Institute Director Carla Williamson. "With this training, our teachers will be better equipped to teach problem solving and other higher order thinking skills."
Wayne Yonkelowitz, a National Board Certified Teacher from Fayette County who is a facilitator for the institute, said the learning experience will help teachers adapt.
"Often times teachers are given just a couple of days to adopt a new initiative," Yonkelowitz said. "This institute exposes teachers to new concepts and gives them time to digest the material so that they can put it to use in their classrooms."
West Virginia's training efforts also include a $100,000 grant from the Intel Foundation's Intel to Teach program. The initiative helps teachers effectively integrate technology with learning and provide principals with leadership training. Fifty West Virginia educators will be certified as Intel Master Trainers to deliver professional development to teachers, while 15 others will be certified to provide leadership forums to principals.
The Department of Education also plans to continue its technology integration specialist training. Already, more than 100 West Virginia educators have been trained to become technology integration specialists as part of an effort to incorporate 21st century skills into the classroom and close the digital generation gap. The department has provided the technology specialists with laptops and other tools to help the reluctant and eager teacher alike build on their vast subject knowledge and incorporate technology into their classrooms.
The Department of Education also is offering online professional development for classroom teachers called West Virginia e-learning for Educators.
"We must make sure we help West Virginia teachers stay up to date if we are to have any hope of developing the top students in the world," Paine said. "We already have some of the best teachers in the nation but we need to help them adapt to the changing world so that they can bring the world into their classroom and take their students out into the real world."
— authorless
Herald-Dispatch
2007-07-11
http://www.herald-dispatch.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070711/NEWS04/707110309/1009/NEWS10
INDEX OF OUTRAGES
Pages: 380
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