Learning in the 21st Century

This weekend in class, we dove into taking a closer look at 21st century learning.  As we explored this topic, I realized the things that I am doing now in my classroom and the things that are still a work in progress. I think that my students are benefiting from many of the things that I am doing now and will continue to benefit as time goes on and all aspects of the 21st century are implemented.  The explosion of technological resources has been a big part of my lesson planning this year and slowly introducing this to my students. It is a lot to keep up with but I am starting with one thing at a time so I am not overwhelmed as well as my students.  I am implementing life skills that my 3rd grade students will need to know for the future as they grow up and become individuals. The four C's are something that I feel are so important and I have been implementing throughout the year.  My students are collaborating in small groups, communicating in different ways, thinking critically about a variety of subjects, and using creativity across subjects. Overall, I feel good about a 21st century learning perspective and will continue to implement these factors into my teaching.

Master's Program

Lately, I have been into reading blogs but I never had the time to start my own!  Now, I get to start one since it is part of my master's program!  I am getting my master's program through St. Mary's University in Teaching and Learning.  One component of this program and to grow as a teacher is to plan changes that we want to make in our own classrooms. One change that I am focusing on for this semester is during my math block.  I plan on starting math journals in which the students will make flip cards for vocabulary and come up with different ways to illustrate in their journals the important math concepts and ideas that we are learning.  This is different from just writing down the definitions of vocabulary words as we learn them.  This is meant to be a reference for the students to refer back to and learn math in a different way besides just writing definitions.  I am excited to see how my students react to this and how it will enhance their learning in math.  Updates will be coming this semester on this project I am working on!